Ohio Innocence Project Director Mark Godsey and former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, who represent R. Dean Gillispie, asked the chief justice to remove Wagner on the grounds that the judge was hostile toward them and wouldn’t be impartial. Wagner accused Godsey of violating federal law when he secretly audio taped a conversation with a law enforcement officer.
Pfeifer pointed out that once Wagner learned that it wasn’t illegal, he dropped the matter.
Pfeifer also noted that the accusation took place in the summer of 2008 after Wagner denied Gillispie’s motion for a new trial. The Court of Appeals overturned Wagner’s decision in part in July 2009, but Godsey waited until March 2010 to request that Wagner be disqualified. Pfeifer said that delay undercut Godsey’s claim.
Godsey said he is disappointed with the decision but will move forward. A hearing on new evidence in the case is now scheduled for July 9, he said.
Gillispie, 45, is serving a 16- to 50-year sentence at the London Correctional Institution for the August 1988 rape and kidnapping of three women. Gillispie has always maintained his innocence and there was no physical evidence tying him to the crimes. The case hinged on testimony from the victims, who picked Gillispie out of a photo lineup nearly two years after the crimes.
The Ohio Innocence Project, a privately funded legal clinic at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and Petro represent Gillispie pro bono.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
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