Judges and lawyers work to clear backlog of murder cases
After more than three years in the Franklin County jail, accused murderer Devon D. Bias wrote to the judge in his case.
“The only thing I’m asking for right now is for my case to be tried in a timely fashion or as soon as possible,” he wrote to Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook in a letter filed with the court on Feb. 5.
Bias, 25, has been in the jail awaiting trial since he was arrested on Dec. 21, 2017, in connection with a drive-by shooting in which two people were killed and three injured on the Hilltop.
His is one of the most-extreme examples of Franklin County defendants whose murder cases are languishing, most-recently because of the delays caused by COVID19 protocols that dramatically reduced the availability of jury trials for the past year.
“It’s a source of significant concern,” said Janet Grubb, first assistant prosecutor in the criminal division of the Franklin County prosecutor’s office. “It’s an incredible burden because of the number of cases that have to be borne by the most-experienced prosecutors.”
The Dispatch has identified nearly 140 defendants in Franklin County whose murder cases are pending in adult court, as well as a dozen more in juvenile court.
“That sounds a little low,” Judge Holbrook said.
No one tracks the number of murder cases pending at any given time, but judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys said the current backlog of such cases seems unprecedented.
The pandemic “is the primary reason,” Grubb said.
Bias’ case is one that would have been resolved if not for the effects of COVID-19 on Common Pleas Court operations, said his defense attorney, Thomas Hayes.
“He’d have had his trial by now,” he said.
Bias recently asked for a trial by the judge, rather than a jury. The bench trial is set for April 19.
There were additional
Holli Osborn, who is awaiting trial on murder charges in the July 2018 shooting death of her husband in Dublin, listens to one of her attorneys during a hearing in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on March 8. She is among an estimated 140 defendants whose murder cases are pending in Franklin County, many of them delayed by the pandemic.
factors, other than COVID19, for the delays in the case, including a change in defense attorneys. Holbrook appointed Hayes to the case in October 2019 after Bias asked for a new lawyer.
“When a new attorney takes over, it sort of resets the clock,” Hayes said.
But things changed dramatically after Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency on March 9, 2020, amid growing concerns about the pandemic.
Less than a week later, the Common Pleas Court judges announced that all civil and criminal matters would be continued until mid-April. It wasn’t long before they suspended cases until the end of May.
Although the court eventually began summoning jurors as needed to handle some of the most-pressing cases, trial scheduling hasn’t returned to normal.
It wasn’t until early this month that the court
announced plans to fully resume jury trials and jury duty on April 5.
However, in an ongoing effort to reduce the number of people in the Common Pleas courthouse and address social distancing concerns, each of the 17 judges have been holding court on alternating weeks since June 1. That will continue for at least three more months, reducing each judge’s availability for trials.
The public-health emergency has permitted judges to waive speedy-trial rights for defendants, although accommodations have been made for the few defendants who are adamant about going to trial.
Courts at all levels in Ohio largely have been successful in keeping their dockets up to date despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.
A report from the state Supreme Court found that the number of cases resolved by the state’s courts in the first 11 months of 2020 slightly exceeded the number that were filed during those months.
But murder cases, a tiny fraction of the more than 2 million cases filed in the state’s courts last year, are among the most-complicated and have the most at stake for the defendants.
Even in normal times, a murder case can take up to 18 months to resolve, whether it goes to trial or not, Hayes said, based on his 28 years as a defense attorney.
Like most criminal matters, only a small percentage of murder cases go to trial. However, many defendants don’t accept a plea offer until a trial is looming, sometimes not until the jury has been seated.
Throughout much of 2020 and into early 2021, that incentive hasn’t existed.
“As a trial date approaches, things normally fall into place that allow the parties to decide if there is going to be a trial or there is going to be a resolution to the case,” said Mark Collins, a defense attorney with 14 pending murder cases in Franklin County.
Although one of the busiest, most-prominent defense attorneys in town, Collins said he doubts he’s ever had so many active murder cases.
“The most I might have at one time is seven or eight,” Collins said.
Holbrook says all of the court’s judges are struggling with how best to catch up with all the cases that have lingered on their dockets during the pandemic slowdown.
“I’ve got plenty of murders to try,” he said. “But I don’t want to get into a position where that’s all I’m doing. What about all my other cases?”
The bench trial next month for Bias will help the process, but its scheduling had nothing to do with the letter Bias mailed to the judge. Holbrook didn’t read it. “My policy is to turn those letters over to defense counsel,” he said. “I don’t read them. Defendants awaiting trial don’t always write things that are in their best interests.”
And that can just mean further delays.