By RUSS ZIMMER

staff writer

Seneca County Prosecutor Ken Egbert Jr. said he talked to city representatives about Police Chief John McGuire because of the potential for events such as a Wednesday hearing where the chief's background took center stage.

"We don't have these issues in other cases, and that's why I have talked to Fostoria officials," the prosecutor said after the hearing.

Egbert was chastised by Dean Henry, McGuire's attorney, for trying to sabotage the police chief's employment at a session of the Seneca County Commissioners last month.

Representing the state, Egbert and Gene Murray, defense attorney for a Fostoria man accused of cocaine possession, met in the Seneca County Court of Common Pleas to discuss what evidence would be introduced at a suppression hearing later this month.

Murray is attempting to persuade Judge Jonathan Hein, a visiting judge from Darke County, to dismiss key evidence from his client's October traffic stop which resulted in his arrest on a felony charge.

McGuire, in the presence of three other Fostoria Police Department officers, located two baggies of crack cocaine on Clifford Green's person during a pat-down search.

Citing a state appellate court's August judgment that the city did not present the circumstances necessary to legally expand its search for former Chief Dennis Day's replacement, Murray is arguing McGuire was not the lawful chief of the FPD at the time of his involvement in Green's arrest.

In addition to the judicial ruling, Murray has questioned McGuire's credibility as a witness using information gathered from a probe, which later resulted in a four-count indictment against McGuire, conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

Counsel for both sides met before the judge, who was overseeing the proceeding via speakerphone, to decide what would and would not be provided by the prosecution before the upcoming April 23 hearing.

Prior to the meeting, Egbert and Murray agreed to strike Murray's first request, a list of all professors from Concordia College and University, the institution from which McGuire received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

Murray said he and Egbert had reached the accord with one stipulation: The state must recognize the defense's assertion that

McGuire's degree is not legitimate.

"It's our understanding that this is a diploma mill university," Egbert said.

Murray said other items or testimony he was seeking, such as the appearance of Rocko, an FPD police dog, and his officer handler and McGuire's professional background, could be obtained through a different type of subpoena.

Murray said he intends to produce evidence at the suppression hearing to illustrate McGuire's deception on previous applications as well as the one submitted to Fostoria.

Egbert said he was forced to share the BCI&I file with Murray because of its possible relationship to Green's case.

"In any criminal case, a prosecutor has a duty to disclose any materials that may be favorable to the defense," he said.

The hearing also tackled the issue of subpoenas recently served on four individuals, including McGuire and an FPD dispatcher.

Hein indicated the subpoenas issued for Greg Peiffer, who purchased a degree Murray has attributed to Rocko, and Sam Justice, a BCI&I agent who compiled a criminal case file against McGuire, would be addressed at the suppression hearing as to their duplicity with other testimony and relevance to the case.

Egbert had challenged the relevance of the subpoenas in a filing earlier this week and continued to do so at the hearing until the judge indicated he was leaning towards allowing everything initially and then sorting through the paperwork.

"How far are we going to go with this?" Egbert asked during the hearing.

Murray said Peiffer would be called to corroborate the ease as to which the Concordia degree could be earned.

Peiffer, president and general manager of WFOB, came forward as the previously anonymous purchaser of the "John I. Rocko" degree last month after a released receipt for the degree revealed the radio station's address.

The information was not released or disclosed to anyone but BCI&I because of the potential for embarrassment to the community, Peiffer wrote in a March 15 statement.

Later that day, Peiffer said the name on the degree was never intended to represent the dog, which is at odds with Murray's recollection of a conversation he had with Peiffer.

After Wednesday's hearing, Murray said he was unaware the degree was credited to the police dog until a conversation with Peiffer during his research for the case.

Concordia has accused Peiffer of doctoring the degree, which he has denied in another publication.

Peiffer has declined to comment to the Review Times because of pending litigation against the newspaper.

Murray denies the degree is anything less than a genuine certificate from a disingenuous institution.

"It lies in the Bermuda Triangle, right where it belongs," Murray said of Concordia, which has no physical campus, but claims to be based in the Virgin Islands.

The chief has previously attributed the attempt to discredit him as a lawyer trying to free his client.

McGuire intends to testify during the suppression hearing, according to earlier statements by Henry.

By RUSS ZIMMER

staff writer

Though today's hearing was vacated, Judge Steve Shuff will preside over the fate of John McGuire as Fostoria's highest law enforcement official.

Ahead of an expected final ruling, a motion to disqualify Shuff was denied by the Ohio Supreme Court, but not before the hearing was canceled.

Marilyn Widman, an attorney for the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, filed with the Supreme Court to have Shuff removed from the case March 19.

Shuff filed a response requesting to stay on, which was granted via letter from Chief Justice Thomas Moyer late Wednesday, according to a clerk in Shuff's office.

Shuff has previously said he anticipates making a final judgment "” the Supreme Court has already denied taking jurisdiction over the matter "” at the 10 a.m. hearing vacated before the letter was received.

Shuff could not be reached for comment by press time today.

Widman stated in her motion to disqualify Shuff that the judge was stalling and therefore giving credence to one of the arguments made by the city. She also wrote that Shuff had displayed bias towards his earlier decision, which sided with the city but was later overturned.

Shuff wrote he was allowing time for the Supreme Court to accept or deny the case onto their docket, which was an unknown factor until the justices passed on the civil litigation Jan. 24.

His decision would have been entered about 60 days after the Supreme Court's refusal of the case, he wrote in his reply.

After refusing to grant an injunction preventing the search from moving forward, Shuff ruled the city had illustrated ample justification to include external candidates in their search for former Chief Dennis Day's replacement.

Before becoming a charter city, Fostoria was required to follow the Ohio Revised Code, which mandates promotion from within, unless they could prove extraordinary circumstances existed.

McGuire was sworn-in as police chief less than a month later.

The OPBA appealed the trial court's decision to the Third District Court, which unanimously overturned Shuff's finding in August. The appellate court remanded the case back to Shuff for institution of its order.

After the city's appeal to the state Supreme Court was refused, Shuff scheduled two hearings, including one to have both sides brief him of his options for a solution consistent with the Third District Court's judgment.

From staff reports

Linda Cooper-Smith, who resigned as executive director Tuesday from the United Way of Fostoria, said she is confident the 50-year-old charity will progress in her absence.

"It's a wonderful group. ... I know they'll find someone good to continue their good work," she said Wednesday. "Absolutely no one is irreplaceable."

Angie Gillett, president of the United Way of Fostoria board, said the announcement was unexpected, but that the board wished Cooper-Smith the best and would begin the process of locating her successor.

Cooper-Smith, who did not give a reason for her departure in her letter to Gillett, said the decision was a personal one, but not necessarily a negative.

"This doesn't have to be a bad thing," she said.

Hired in February 2006, Cooper-Smith replaced Denny Studrawa, who had held the position for about 15 years.

Gillett said a search committee would be formed in the near future.

As the leader of the local chapter, Cooper-Smith played a leadership role in this past year's United Way of Fostoria corporate campaign, which exceeded its goal en route to a final tally of more than $400,000.

The money is disbursed to 16 local agencies, which provide services for segments of the community.

"I really loved working with all the people in Fostoria and I felt really good about the good things that the United Way can do, have done and will do," Cooper-Smith said.

Fostoria

citations

Wednesday:

• Allen L. Cochran, 19, 304 S. Poplar St., fictitious plates.

Tuesday:

• Torrence N. Thompson, 28, 215 Bannister St., suspended driver’s license.

• Nancy J. Dispennett, 50, 1108 Carey Lane Apt. E, safety belt violation.

thefts

Wednesday:

• Caller advised vehicle broken into at East Sixth Street location and speakers taken.

• East Crocker Street caller advised two packs of cigarettes taken from purse during night.

miscellaneous

Wednesday:

• South Union Street caller advised house broken into, no items taken.

• Complainant advised people in Westhaven Drive neighborhood with water guns trying to squirt people.