DRAKE COUNTY, Ohio (Court TV) — An Ohio man avoided a potential life sentence by pleading guilty to a lesser charge on the day his murder trial was scheduled to begin.
Zachery Gilbert pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Dec. 19, 2025. (Court TV)
Zachery Gilbert, 26, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification on Friday. He was initially charged with murder and tampering with evidence in the Sept. 26, 2024, death of Brianne Otley, 34.
Officers responded to the scene after reports of a female being shot, according to a press release. Brianne was pronounced dead at the scene. Gilbert, who allegedly fled the area, was located several blocks away two hours after the 911 call was placed.
Authorities have not released a motive or any connection between Gilbert and Brianne.
Gilbert had opted for a bench trial, meaning a judge, rather than a jury, would decide his fate. But on the day the trial was supposed to begin, he changed his plea, which upset the victim’s family.
“I am 200% against this plea,” Michelle Otley, Brianne’s mother, told the court. “There is proof after proof after proof that this man is guilty. There’s even proof his mother’s guilty, but she’s not on trial.”
Otley was a single mother of three, according to her obituary. Her sister blamed prosecutors, who she said “dropped the ball time and time again,” for the change of plea.
While few details were released about Brianne’s death, her aunt, Candace Hall, offered some insight as she pleaded for Judge Travis Fliehman to reject the guilty plea. “Saying it was an accident — it wasn’t an accident,” Hall said. “She had a 90% chance to still be alive if he had just called the cops after he shot her, instead of lying there for 45 minutes.”
Gilbert’s sentencing is scheduled for January 26. Under the terms of the plea, he faces a potential sentence of three to 16 years in prison, followed by a mandatory consecutive sentence of three years for the gun charge.
