SPRINGBORO, OHIO: The next move in the case of former suburban police official convicted in connection with his wife’s 1995 death in their Southwest Ohio home is up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The attorney for former Springboro Police Lt. Thomas “Jim” Barton wants the nation’s highest court to refuse an appeal by the Ohio attorney general’s office. The state wants the Supreme Court to resolve conflicts in lower-court rulings.
Christopher Pagan’s response says state arguments are fact-specific and not worthy of Supreme Court attention.
He tells the Dayton Daily News he expects the court’s ruling in February.
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati in May agreed with Barton’s attorneys that authorities improperly withheld evidence that could have helped him against charges linking him to a botched burglary.