Dennis Holt is accused of killing a man during the robbery of a restaurant in March 2009. |
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard S. Sheward declared the mistrial when defense attorney Larry Thomas said he no longer was comfortable representing Dennis Holt.
"I don't fault Larry," Sheward said later. "No matter what he does, it's going to look like he's not doing his best for the guy."
A jury that was selected Monday had heard two days of testimony from 10 prosecution witnesses before the trial was halted. A new trial is scheduled for Feb. 14.
Holt, 18, is accused of being the triggerman in a robbery on March 12, 2009, that turned deadly at the Iftin Restaurant, 4191 Cleveland Ave. Daud Osman, a 38-year-old cook at the Somali restaurant, was shot when he chased one of the robbers from the kitchen with a knife.
Holt was 17 years old at the time but was transferred to adult court on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
Sheward said the proper action for a defendant who is unhappy with his or her attorney or the trial judge is to file an appeal after a verdict is reached.
The judge said the lawsuits "aren't worth the paper they're printed on," but he expressed concern that other defendants might be inspired to follow Holt's lead.
"A criminal defendant can file a lawsuit from jail and disrupt the process," he said. "I suspect that many of these will be filed just to get a mistrial. It's a frightening proposition."
A mystery surrounds the lawsuit filings. Holt told the judge that he was aware that the actions were being filed but never saw the documents and didn't sign them. He said they were filed by a woman he knew only as "Fran."
Clerks for both courts said a woman used cash to pay the filing fees - $225 in Common Pleas and $100 in the appeals court - and wasn't required to give her name.
Sheward said she might be the same woman who has been asked twice by deputies to leave the courtroom during Holt's trial. The woman tried to speak with Holt in court and made deputies uneasy by sitting near the prosecution's table and eyeing the victim's knife, which was used as evidence, the judge said.
Thomas said the same woman handed him a copy of the lawsuit Thursday morning as he sat in a different courtroom on an unrelated case, then walked away without speaking.
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Source: Columbus Dispatch