Reed gets life sentence

Eric A. Reed, found guilty in a trial last week in the 2017 murder of a Findlay drug informant, was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday by Hancock County Judge Reginald Routson. As part of the sentence, Reed will not be eligible for parole, Hancock County Prosecutor Phillip Riegle said. Judge Routson also ordered Reed, along with another man, to pay $10,000 restitution to the family of Brian McQuistion for funeral expenses, Riegle said. The sentencing and trial occurred in Hancock County Common Pleas Court. In addition, Reed was sentenced to a total of 24 months in prison for two counts of having a gun without first obtaining court permission, having been previously convicted of two felony offenses. Reed, 50 to 52, of Texas, shot McQuistion, 42, in retaliation for information McQuistion supplied to police leading to a drug charge against Reed's "nephew." That latter man, Dominique J. Blakely, 31, is serving a 13-year prison sentence for complicity to involuntary manslaughter in McQuistion's death. Blakely testified to driving Reed to McQuistion's neighborhood and then picking him up after the shooting. Blakely was ordered to help pay restitution to McQuistion's family.