CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — The Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals has vacated the guilty pleas of Marty Ray Dotson Jr., who had previously admitted to murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in connection with the October 2023 deaths of two men at a mobile home park in Orient.

The decision, issued in Case No. 24CA24, found that the Pickaway County Court of Common Pleas failed to properly inform Dotson of the mandatory post-release control associated with his voluntary manslaughter conviction — a procedural error that rendered his plea invalid.

Dotson had pleaded guilty to one count of murder, an unclassified felony, and one count of voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. In exchange, seven other charges — including additional counts of

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