TOLEDO, Ohio (Court TV) — An Ohio attorney has conceded that he brought a gun into a crowded restaurant and pointed it at his ex, but says he never meant to kill her or hurt anyone else.
Matthew Exton listens to opening statements in his trial on Sept. 1, 2026. (Court TV)
Matthew Exton, 43, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and three counts of felonious assault stemming from an incident at a restaurant opening that left diners terrified.
April 11, 2025, “was meant to be a day of celebration, a new beginning,” prosecutor Rose Mary Mock said in her opening statement to the jury on Tuesday. It was the opening day for a new restaurant, Sabira, on South Huron Street. “The staff rehearsed,” Mock said. “They practiced their soft opening all in preparation for its magnificent opening night. Nothing in their rehearsals and nothing in their soft openings prepared them for what would walk through that door.”
Mock said that Exton walked into the restaurant and headed directly to the victims’ table, “not with the intention to have a meal, not with the intention to celebrate; he came there with malice in his heart and a loaded gun to commit a public assassination of his ex-wife and severely injure her two parents while they were having dinner.”
Mock said a waiter “heroically tackled” the defendant, and Exton’s failure to disengage the safety saved lives as other employees and diners rushed to assist. “That waiter saved at least three lives that day,” she said.
Matthew Exton is seen entering the restaurant on surveillance video. (Court TV)
At the time of the incident, the defendant was divorced, but he and his ex-wife were still arguing over the disposition of marital property, Exton’s attorney, Ronnie Wingate, told the jury in his opening statement. “His life was turned from being OK to simply living out of the trunk of his car, or living with a friend, who would allow him to stay there for a period of time.”
Wingate said he agreed with the prosecution that Exton entered the restaurant and approached his ex-wife’s table. “You will see Mr. Exton walk into that room, advance to that table, and when he gets there, you will see him pull a gun out of his pocket and point it at [his ex-wife],” Wingate said. But Wingate said that the weapon was never pointed at her parents, and that his client’s actions were not attempted murder. “Attempted murder requires that a substantial step has to be taken in order to constitute the act of attempted murder.”
The waiter who stepped in to stop Exton was the second witness called to the stand Tuesday; he described seeing the weapon in Exton’s hand, pointed at the table. He testified that he acted without thinking, rushing to protect the woman, because “I didn’t want her to die.”
“I tackled him, but he’s bigger than me, so he kind of fell on me, and I just grabbed the gun and tried to hold it with my hand over it,” the waiter said.
When asked what he was doing, the waiter said simply, “Not die.”
Prosecutors played a surveillance video from inside the restaurant, which recorded the chaos and screams after Exton walked into the building.
The trial continues through the week.
