{"id":162502,"date":"2026-09-10T05:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/10\/lawyer-convicted-after-attempt-to-kill-ex-wife-foiled-by-leaving-the-safety-on\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T05:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:52:10","slug":"lawyer-convicted-after-attempt-to-kill-ex-wife-foiled-by-leaving-the-safety-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/10\/lawyer-convicted-after-attempt-to-kill-ex-wife-foiled-by-leaving-the-safety-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer Convicted After Attempt To Kill Ex-Wife Foiled By Leaving The Safety On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, Matthew Exton spotted his ex-wife and her family at a local restaurant. After sending a drink to their table and spitting at them on his way out, the now-former Toledo-area attorney returned with a gun and attempted to shoot his ex at point blank range<\/a>. Thankfully, Exton forgot to take the safety off, giving a waiter the opportunity to tackle Exton to the ground. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the appropriate tip under those circumstances? At least 25 percent, right?<\/p>\n

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\n
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A former Ohio attorney tried to shoot his ex-wife but forgot to take the safety off\u2026<\/p>\n

On another note\u2013that waiter deserves a raise pic.twitter.com\/xX3awzbvAn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u20a9\u20b3\u2c64 \u20b1\u20b3\u20ae\u2c67 (@WarPath2pt0) September 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Exton lost his law license a month later, and now \u2014 another year hence \u2014 he\u2019s been convicted of attempted murder.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another reminder that \u201cthe only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun\u201d is pithy propaganda, but doesn\u2019t really work out in practice. Nothing would have stopped a less forgetful Exton, and this absent-minded version was stopped by quick thinking and brute force.<\/p>\n

As WBTV reports:<\/p>\n

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\u201cNothing in their training and soft openings at the restaurant could have prepared the staff for what walked through that door,\u201d [Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia R.] Bates said. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Maybe it\u2019s just me, but for some reason, I\u2019m stuck on \u201cand soft openings.\u201d As though the prosecution feared jurors might say, \u201csure, training didn\u2019t cover this, but shouldn\u2019t they have tried a few soft openings to work out the \u2018patron tries to murder someone over appetizers\u2019 kinks?\u201d I need an oral history of how that worked its way into the closing argument script. <\/p>\n

In any event, Exton will be sentenced later in the month.<\/p>\n

Former attorney convicted of attempted murder after trying to shoot ex-wife in restaurant<\/a> [WBTV]<\/p>\n

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\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Lawyer Convicted After Attempt To Kill Ex-Wife Foiled By Leaving The Safety On<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, Matthew Exton spotted his ex-wife and her family at a local restaurant. After sending a drink to their table and spitting at them on his way out, the now-former Toledo-area attorney returned with a gun and attempted to shoot his ex at point blank range<\/a>. Thankfully, Exton forgot to take the safety off, giving a waiter the opportunity to tackle Exton to the ground. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the appropriate tip under those circumstances? At least 25 percent, right?<\/p>\n

Exton lost his law license a month later, and now \u2014 another year hence \u2014 he\u2019s been convicted of attempted murder.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another reminder that \u201cthe only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun\u201d is pithy propaganda, but doesn\u2019t really work out in practice. Nothing would have stopped a less forgetful Exton, and this absent-minded version was stopped by quick thinking and brute force.<\/p>\n

As WBTV reports:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNothing in their training and soft openings at the restaurant could have prepared the staff for what walked through that door,\u201d [Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia R.] Bates said. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Maybe it\u2019s just me, but for some reason, I\u2019m stuck on \u201cand soft openings.\u201d As though the prosecution feared jurors might say, \u201csure, training didn\u2019t cover this, but shouldn\u2019t they have tried a few soft openings to work out the \u2018patron tries to murder someone over appetizers\u2019 kinks?\u201d I need an oral history of how that worked its way into the closing argument script. <\/p>\n

In any event, Exton will be sentenced later in the month.<\/p>\n

Former attorney convicted of attempted murder after trying to shoot ex-wife in restaurant<\/a> [WBTV]<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, Matthew Exton spotted his ex-wife and her family at a local restaurant. After sending a drink to their table and spitting at them on his way out, the now-former Toledo-area attorney returned with a gun and attempted to shoot his ex at point blank range. Thankfully, Exton forgot to take the safety off, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}