TOLEDO, OH — A Lucas County jury on Friday convicted former attorney Matthew Exton, 43, of attempted murder after prosecutors said he walked into a crowded downtown Toledo restaurant on April 11, 2025, and pointed a loaded handgun at his ex-wife while she dined with her parents.
The verdict closes the criminal phase of a case that drew widespread attention after surveillance footage captured the moment Exton pulled the gun on his ex-wife, Kayda Valone, inside Sabira, a newly opened Italian restaurant in downtown Toledo. A waiter tackled Exton before he could fire. The Ohio Supreme Court had already suspended Exton’s law license in May 2025 following his arrest. He now faces up to 25 years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 21 before Lucas County Judge Gary Cook.
According to Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia Bates, Exton had been drinking at Souk, a bar adjoining Sabira, on the evening of April 11, 2025, when he spotted Valone seated at a table with her parents, Charles and Jeanne Valone. The restaurant was celebrating its opening night. Exton entered Sabira, ordered a drink sent to the Valone family’s table, and then spat in their direction before walking out. He returned a short time later carrying a Colt Defender handgun and moved directly toward his ex-wife’s table. When he pointed the weapon at Valone and attempted to discharge it, the gun did not fire because the safety was still engaged. At that moment, a waiter charged at Exton and tackled him to the ground. Several patrons, including Valone and her parents, surrounded Exton on the floor as witnesses screamed throughout the dining room. Bates told the court that the gun held one round in the chamber and seven more rounds in the magazine at the time of the confrontation.
Bates framed the attack in stark terms during her courtroom remarks. “Nothing in their training and soft openings at the restaurant could have prepared the staff for what walked through that door,” Bates said. “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.” She praised the restaurant’s employees and the patrons who intervened, calling them heroes. On the stand, Exton offered a different account of his intentions, testifying that he did not plan to pull the trigger. He claimed he pointed the weapon at Valone to pressure her into speeding up the sale of their former shared home, telling the jury: “I wanted her to know that I was serious about her following the court order to give the house proceeds to me as soon as possible. I needed it. I was hurt.” Exton also maintained that he never aimed the gun at Valone’s parents and said he never disengaged the safety or attempted to pull the trigger. Prosecution witnesses, however, testified that Exton had attempted to fire the weapon before the waiter intervened.
Exton had practiced law with offices in Sylvania, Ohio, and Traverse City, Michigan, handling cases that included family law, gun law, and bankruptcy matters, according to his own trial testimony. He told the jury he had been married twice — his first marriage ended after a short time, and he has one teenage child from that relationship. He married Valone in March 2017. Exton testified that he is gay and that Valone had been aware of that before they wed, though his first wife had not known. The couple filed for divorce around the same time in February 2024, and their divorce was finalized in January 2025. Exton described the split as “terrible” and “painful,” telling the jury it was not an amicable process. The Ohio Supreme Court moved to suspend his law license in May 2025, roughly one month after the restaurant confrontation, as the criminal case moved forward through the Lucas County court system.
The trial took a chaotic turn during closing arguments. As prosecutors presented their final evidence, Exton began interrupting the proceedings repeatedly, at one point standing up and shouting “Gun!” in open court. Judge Cook ordered Exton removed from the courtroom, and he watched the remainder of the proceedings — including the reading of the verdict — from a holding area with access to audio and video feeds. Before being removed, Exton also pointed his fingers in the shape of a gun toward prosecutors and asked the court to charge the waiter who tackled him with attempted murder. In a brief statement to the court, Exton said his attorney had advised him to remain quiet, adding: “How can I do that and exercise all the infractions to all of my constitutional rights that have been violated through these proceedings if I can’t speak?” Prosecutors, in their closing argument, characterized his emotional displays during testimony as “crocodile tears.”
The Lucas County jury found Exton guilty of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, and multiple firearm specifications. The panel acquitted him on a fourth charge — a remaining count of felonious assault. During cross-examination, Exton claimed that Valone had been laughing at him before the confrontation, saying: “They knew what they were doing to me. I didn’t want them to die, but I was fighting for my life.” He also recalled the moment the waiter intervened: “The waiter came over, and he punched me, he tackled me, and then they tried to get the gun from me. I thought I was toast.” The waiter was not identified by name in court proceedings. The Daily Mail reported that the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office was contacted for additional comment following the verdict.
Exton is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21 in Lucas County, where he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder conviction alone. His law license remains suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court. No date has been set for any related civil proceedings, and it was not immediately clear whether additional legal action connected to the April 2025 incident remains pending.
