Former Ohio attorney convicted after trying to shoot ex-wife in restaurant
A former Ohio attorney was found guilty of attempted murder, after attempting to shoot his ex-wife inside a restaurant. A Lucas County jury found Matthew Exton, 43, guilty following a trial this week, according to the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office.
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According to a statement from Prosecuting Attorney Julia R. Bates, the jury found Exton guilty of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault, with two firearm specifications attached to each of the three counts. The jury found Exton not guilty on the remaining count of felonious assault.
The statement said, “On April 11, 2025, Exton ordered a drink at the bar inside Souk restaurant in Toledo. After leaving the restaurant, he saw his ex-wife and her family at Sabira restaurant next door, which was celebrating its opening night.Exton entered Sabira, ordered a drink at the bar to be sent to their table and, as he left the restaurant, spit toward their table. He later returned with a gun, walked into the restaurant and headed directly toward their table, where he tried to fire the weapon. The gun’s safety was still engaged, and a waiter tackled Exton before he could make a second attempt to fire the weapon. The gun had one round in the chamber and seven others in the magazine.”
Bates said,“Nothing in their training and soft openings at the restaurant could have prepared the staff for what walked through that door. The defendant did not come with the intention of having a meal. He came with anger in him and with the intention to commit a public execution of his ex-wife at the restaurant that day. We appreciate the jury’s service this week and we hope its decision provides some sense of closure for those seated at the table as well as the Sabira employees who were also victimized that day. The employees and patrons who stepped in to stop the defendant that day are heroes.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, at 9 a.m. at the Lucas County Courthouse.
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