Prosecutor: Man awaiting arson pacemaker case dies

DAYTON — A man awaiting trial for arson involving unusual evidence gathered from his pacemaker has died, according to Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser.

Ross Compton, 62, who allegedly set fire to his Middletown house in 2016, was charged with aggravated arson and insurance fraud. The blaze on Court Donegal caused nearly $400,000 in damage. Compton, who was indicted in January 2017, was arrested based in part on data taken from his pacemaker.

He was awaiting a ruling from a direct appeal to the 12th District Court of Appeals about whether pacemaker data could be used at trial. Because the motion involved physician-patient privilege, an appeal on that issue was allowed by the 12th District Court of Appeals before trial. The appellate court was required to make a decision before the trial took place.

The 12th District was scheduled to hear oral arguments about the pacemaker medical issue in May, but that was delayed because of coronavirus concerns. The hearing was rescheduled for Monday at the appeals court building in Middletown.

As of Tuesday, the appellate court had not received official notice of Compton’s death, according to administrator Ben Manning. It is possible the points of law could be argued by a representative of Compton’s family or estate, he said.

Compton was released from the Butler County Jail on his own recognizance in May and was scheduled to be back in Butler County Common Judge Charles Pater’s courtroom Tuesday for a pretrial hearing. The case was not called. Court officials said they are awaiting official notification of Compton’s death.

Gmoser said he, too, is waiting a death certificate to file official notices to both common pleas and appellate courts.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind to use data from a beating heart as evidence. Pater ruled in both 2018 and 2019 that data from Compton’s pacemaker could be presented at trial. Attorneys representing Compton claimed physician-patient privilege and violation of his constitutional rights when arguing that evidence should be tossed.

Compton, who had an artificial heart implant that used an external pump, told police he was asleep when the fire started. When he awoke and saw the fire, he packed some belongings in a suitcase and bags, broke the glass of his bedroom window with a cane and threw the bags and suitcase out of the window before climbing out himself and taking the bags to his car, he told police.

Police then obtained a search warrant for all of the electronic data stored in Compton’s cardiac pacing device. The data included his heart rate, pacer demand and cardiac rhythms before, during and after the fire.

A cardiologist who reviewed that data determined “it is highly improbable Mr. Compton would have been able to collect, pack and remove the number of items from the house, exit his bedroom window and carry numerous large and heavy items to the front of his residence during the short period of time he has indicated due to his medical conditions,” according to court documents.

Defense attorney Charles Conliff argued in March 2019 that the pacemaker data was collected by medical technicians at a hospital for use by a physician and at no time did Compton waive his right to physician-patient privilege. He said data is different from information taken from cell phones because it requires a specific medical procedure and it is intended for a specific use by a physician.

“It is stealing personal information,” Conliff said. “This is not information like on a cell phone that can be downloaded from the cloud. It is collected and stored for use of a physician.”

Assistant Butler County Prosecutors Jon Marshall and Kraig Chadrick argued that the data was collected with a search warrant, and it wasn’t part of a privileged communication between Compton and his doctor.

Chadrick said the same system applies to obtaining evidence from cellphones.

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