MOUNT VERNON — Three Mount Vernon men currently awaiting trial in the Knox County Jail will not have their scheduled preliminary hearings on Friday and Monday in Mount Vernon Municipal Court. The hearings have been continued to July 31 following the Ohio legislature passing House Bill 197 Wednesday.
Under the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure, a preliminary hearing must be held within 10 days of a defendant’s arrest on a felony charge and 15 days when the defendant is not in custody, Municipal Court Judge John Thatcher explained.
According to HB 197 any such deadline due between March 9 and July 30 “shall be tolled.” This means that cases will not be dismissed for not adhering to certain deadlines during this time, according to Knox County Prosecuting Attorney Chip McConville.
Because preliminary hearings require the defendants to personally appear in court, McConville expressed that he believes the court decided to continue the cases due to health risks involved in transporting inmates, due to the pandemic.
Thatcher shared that he decided to continue the cases because all three defendants are being held in jail for matters other than the new charges.
“Even if I held the hearings now and decided there isn’t enough evidence to hold them in jail on the new felonies, they still wouldn’t get out of jail because of their other cases,” Thatcher said.
Thatcher added that he also knows the next grand jury will be held soon — allowing the cases to move forward in common pleas court or be dismissed.
If there comes a case where the only charge holding a person in jail is a new felony, and if the grand jury does not meet for several weeks, Thatcher said he will consider holding the preliminary hearing via video.
The usual biweekly grand jury was canceled on Monday, March 23 in light of the public health emergency.
McConville expressed that his primary concern now is to get the grand jury back in session as quickly as possible.
“We’re going to try to keep running people through the system on a timely basis,” McConville said.
Public Defender John Pyle said he hopes that the bill will not have too much of an impact on his clients.
The bill does not affect bond hearings so people who are arrested will still be heard for bond within a few days.
However, for people who are denied bond or — more commonly — cannot afford bond, HB 197 could have an impact on their trial dates and how long they will be waiting in jail for their day in court.
“There are going to be people who are sitting in jail who want a trial quickly who are not going to get it,” Pyle said.
Among the deadlines tolled in the HB 197 is the time within which discovery — in which prosecution and defense are required to share legal information and facts about the case — must be completed.
Pyle said this is “more troubling,” but noted that McConville as the prosecuting attorney is typically very timely in the discovery process.
The question of speedy trial and bond was part of statewide discourse even before the pandemic, Pyle pointed out.
“And there is the practical matter that you only get so many jail cells,” Pyle added.
Since enclosed environments place occupants at higher risk of cross-contamination should an infection occur, the COVID-19 outbreak has accentuated the issue with many people waiting for trial in a limited detention space.
The prosecutor’s office and law enforcement have been working together to develop strategies to help keep the local jail population manageable during the outbreak.
This includes prosecuting attorneys consenting to more personal recognizance (no cash) bonds and community control sentences in cases of low level and non-violent felonies.
