Trial date rescheduled for Blaine
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
Former Greenfield pastor Jim Blaine appeared for a pretrial hearing Friday, June 11 in Highland County Common Pleas Court, where dates for his trial were rescheduled.
During the brief hearing, defense attorney Marc Ross told Judge Rocky Coss that he was only halfway through reviewing the pages of discovery provided by the Highland County Prosecutor's Office, and had not yet been able to respond to the discovery.
Blaine is facing 13 counts of forgery, each a felony of the fifth degree; one count of unauthorized use of property, a felony of the fourth degree; one count of forgery, a felony of the third degree, and two counts of aggravated theft, each a felony of the third degree. The charges stem from his allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from the Good Shepherd Church in Greenfield when he was a pastor there.
Ross noted during the hearing that there were 578 pages of discovery to go through. One issues that was raised was in regard to transcripts of interviews with church board members that seemed to contain clerical errors and were not officials transcripts by a court reporter, Ross said. He asked that such a transcript be made or the state provide the defense with any audio recordings of the interviews.
Grandey said that he believed that the recordings were on CDs that were given to the defense, and that the state had shared all evidence and case elements they had. Ross said the CDs potentially were in the material he had not been able to review.
Ross said that the defense intendeds to file a motion to suppress some evidence, and Coss said the motions should be filed by July 1.
The matter had been scheduled for trial on July 28, but Grandey and Ross agreed to reschedule the trial for Aug. 23 in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
"In a case such as this where there are voluminous records," Coss said, "it would be helpful to a jury," and to the attorneys, if any questions were to be raised about the "authenticity" of the documents that are in evidence, that it be done prior to trial.
Ross also asked to clarify with the court if certain activities were in compliance with Blaine's house arrest. The court said that Blaine was permitted to attend a Father's Day function at his sister's house and that he is permitted to go to a Greenfield gas station.
In May, Blaine was found to be in violation of his house arrest and ordered to spend five days in jail after he went to church a restaurant in Washington C.H.
Coss noted that Blaine was to go "directly to and from" the locations permitted by the court, and then noted that felony pretrial supervising officer, Gary Breeden of the Highland County Probation Department had reported to the court that Blaine has been in compliance with the stipulations of his house arrest.
Former Greenfield pastor Jim Blaine appeared for a pretrial hearing Friday, June 11 in Highland County Common Pleas Court, where dates for his trial were rescheduled.
During the brief hearing, defense attorney Marc Ross told Judge Rocky Coss that he was only halfway through reviewing the pages of discovery provided by the Highland County Prosecutor's Office, and had not yet been able to respond to the discovery.
Blaine is facing 13 counts of forgery, each a felony of the fifth degree; one count of unauthorized use of property, a felony of the fourth degree; one count of forgery, a felony of the third degree, and two counts of aggravated theft, each a felony of the third degree. The charges stem from his allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from the Good Shepherd Church in Greenfield when he was a pastor there.
Ross noted during the hearing that there were 578 pages of discovery to go through. One issues that was raised was in regard to transcripts of interviews with church board members that seemed to contain clerical errors and were not officials transcripts by a court reporter, Ross said. He asked that such a transcript be made or the state provide the defense with any audio recordings of the interviews.
Grandey said that he believed that the recordings were on CDs that were given to the defense, and that the state had shared all evidence and case elements they had. Ross said the CDs potentially were in the material he had not been able to review.
Ross said that the defense intends to file a motion to suppress some evidence, and Coss said the motions should be filed by July 1.
The matter had been scheduled for trial on July 28, but Grandey and Ross agreed to reschedule the trial for Aug. 23 in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
"In a case such as this where there are voluminous records," Coss said, "it would be helpful to a jury," and to the attorneys, if any questions were to be raised about the "authenticity" of the documents that are in evidence, that it be done prior to trial.
Ross also asked to clarify with the court if certain activities were in compliance with Blaine's house arrest. The court said that Blaine was permitted to attend a Father's Day function at his sister's house and that he is permitted to go to a Greenfield gas station.
In May, Blaine was found to be in violation of his house arrest and ordered to spend five days in jail after he went to church a restaurant in Washington C.H.
Coss noted that Blaine was to go "directly to and from" the locations permitted by the court, and then noted that felony pretrial supervising officer, Gary Breeden of the Highland County Probation Department had reported to the court that Blaine has been in compliance with the stipulations of his house arrest.
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