Fuller family vows to appeal conviction

By Hal Johnson
Herald Writer

Jeremy Farrand, his family and friends aren’t the only victims of the 13-year-old’s murder, according to the convicted killer’s stepfather.

Ronald L. Fuller may be going to prison for the murder but he and his family are victims too, Anthony Gregory said Tuesday.

Gregory and his wife, Fuller’s mother Emma Gregory, believe the 25-year-old Farrell man sentenced to life without parole for killing the boy on May 29 is innocent. Fuller also maintains his innocence.

“I am sorry for the death of the little boy. I grieve for his family. But I didn’t do it,” Fuller said Tuesday.

During the two-week trial, Fuller testified that he handed his sawed-off shotgun to another man, who murdered the boy and returned the gun to Fuller.

Prosecutors said Fuller killed the boy in an attempt to intimidate a man who implicated Fuller’s friend in a robbery. The man frequented the Prindle Street house in Sharon where Jeremy Farrand was killed, prosecutors said.

Fuller has 10 days to file a motion with Mercer County Common Pleas Court and 30 days to file an appeal with a higher court, said Judge Michael J. Wherry. Fuller is entitled to have his same lawyer or a new lawyer appointed for his appeals, the judge said during sentencing Tuesday. Gregory said the case “definitely” will be appealed.

“A great injustice happened. We believe Ron Fuller will have this overturned and be released,” he said.

“We are sorry about Jeremy Farrand. The focus has been on everyone else, but there are two victims here — Jeremy and Ron Fuller,” Gregory said.

During the sentencing phase hearing, Mrs. Gregory said she did not consider her son a murderer, despite the verdict.

Sitting in on the two-week trial, the family has had to endure lies, Gregory said. In the community, “we have been talked about and picked at,” he said.

Gregory said the friends of the victim have expressed their sympathy by driving through streets and cheering that Fuller was convicted of first-degree murder. “Now, we are the victims,” Gregory said.

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