PORTSMOUTH- Aden Greene was found guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Nathaniel “Nate” McQuinley after a five-day trial that ended Friday. He was sentenced to life without parole for 27 years.

“This is a tragic and senseless case which has devasted Nathaniel McQuinley’s family and shaken many young men and women in this community and their parents,” said Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman. “I want to once again extend my deepest condolences to Nate’s loved ones and hope that Mr. Greene’s conviction and sentence provides them some small measure of closure as they continue to mourn his death. Self-defense is never appropriate when someone makes the choices that Aden Greene made on that fateful evening.”

Greene, 18, faced six felony counts, including two counts of murder and four counts of felonious assault stemming from a fatal shooting at a party, which occurred almost exactly one year prior to the end of his trial. Greene’s trial took place in the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas courtroom of Judge Mark Kuhn.

Just prior to 1 a.m. on July 29, 2023, Scioto County deputies were dispatched to a residence in Rigrish Addition off Ohio 335 near Minford following emergency calls reporting a shooting at a house party. When deputies arrived, they were led to the back porch where they found the victim, later identified as 20-year-old McQuinley, unresponsive having suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eyewitnesses identified Greene as the shooter. The accounts and investigation revealed Greene fled the scene following the shooting, and a manhunt ensued along with the continued investigation.

Greene was charged via a complaint initially filed in the Scioto County Juvenile Court on Aug. 1. Following the receipt of notice Greene had retained counsel, the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office reached out to demand his immediate surrender. Greene turned himself in to the Juvenile Court and the Scioto County Sheriff’s representatives on Aug. 3, 2023.

Along with the filing of the initial complaint, the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office requested Greene be tried as an adult. Greene’s case then proceeded through Juvenile Court, which decided on Oct. 24 that Greene would indeed face trial as an adult. Greene’s case was then sent to the General Division which handles all felony adult matters. During the litigation of the case, Greene filed a notice to the Court indicating he intended to claim self-defense at trial.

After a continuance of the originally scheduled April trial date, Greene’s case went before a jury July 22. The prosecution’s case was presented by Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman and Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Loesch. Tieman and Loesch were further assisted by Assistant Prosecutor Jay Willis, who was lead counsel on the matter while it was at the Juvenile Court. Greene was represented by Columbus attorneys Peter Scranton and Don Olsen. The prosecution presented 23 witnesses, 15 of which were party attendees, over four days, and introduced more than 100 exhibits. The defense called two witnesses and the defendant.

The evidence at trial was that a large house party on July 28, 2023, was hosted by recent high school graduates while their parents were out of town. It is estimated this party was attended by 100 or more juveniles and young adults. Testimony indicated most of the partygoers were drinking alcohol, and a large number were also smoking marijuana.

Greene, 17 years old at the time, went to the party armed with a .45 caliber semi-automatic Glock handgun. Greene was showing off the handgun through the course of the evening. Witnesses also testified Greene was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana that evening.

An altercation between Greene and another partygoer occurred after an argument over another juvenile who had been pushed into a backyard pool. Testimony from witnesses was the argument progressed into a brief physical altercation, although no witnesses indicated that any punches were thrown. Following this altercation, the testimony was almost entirely consistent this individual turned and walked away from Greene. Rather than allow this individual to walk away from the altercation without any further incident, Greene chose to follow him with his gun drawn and pointed to the back of his head. Witnesses indicated they saw Greene “rack” a round in the chamber of his gun and that he was making confrontational statements to the individual.

As the gun was pointed at the individual’s head, McQuinley intervened and struck Greene in the head with what most witnesses indicated was a bottle. The threatened individual was a friend of McQuinley’s who had travelled to the party with him. Greene then quickly turned his weapon toward McQuinley and fired multiple shots.

McQuinley suffered three gunshot wounds, including a fatal wound which entered the rear of his right shoulder in a back-to-front trajectory and impacted his lungs and his heart. Testimony from the forensic pathologist was the fatal wound was non-survivable. One of the bullets also struck another partygoer in the lower leg, and an additional felonious assault charge for Greene. Another partygoer indicated he suffered a bullet graze injury to his hand, which also led to an additional felonious assault count.

On the witness stand, Greene admitted to being the shooter but claimed he fired due to fear of impending death. Greene tried to claim many people were armed at the party. This was refuted by every witness at trial.

Greene also claimed he was struck three times by a hard object, testimony which once again was directly contradicted by the other witnesses at trial. Greene admitted to fleeing the scene and went to Cincinnati. Greene also admitted he had disposed of the murder weapon shortly after the shooting.

The jury rejected Greene’s claims of self-defense, finding him guilty of Nate McQuinley’s murder, two counts of felonious assault relating to McQuinley, and another count of felonious assault related to the partygoer struck by a bullet in the leg. Greene was found not guilty of the felonious assault count related to the graze injury to a partygoer’s hand.

Kuhn imposed a life sentence in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections on Greene, with no possibility of parole for at least 27 years.

“From this tragedy, there are many lessons that the youth of this county can take going forward to never let something like this happen again. Guns and alcohol don’t mix, its illegal, dumb, and incredibly dangerous. Same goes with weed.

“Carrying a gun doesn’t make you cool and it certainly doesn’t make you tough. Guns are deadly weapons and are always to be treated with the utmost respect and care. Be careful with every decision that you make because those decisions can have grave consequences, including the loss of life and freedom. Nate McQuinley would be alive today had any of these lessons been followed. Learn from this and do not let his death be in vain,” Tieman said.

Tieman and the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office extend deepest thanks to the citizens who served as jurors in this emotionally charged and difficult trial. Tieman also thanks the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office and the young men and women who came forward to give their accounts of the evening.

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