Attorneys for a Wilminton, Ohio, man charged this month with murder in a 1993 death are asking for court approval to hire a DNA expert and a private investigator at a combined cost of $13,000. Clinton County Common Pleas Court Judge John W. Rudduck this week said he needs more information before he will decide whether to grant the request for funds to retain an expert witness and an investigator. The merits of the request will be heard at an oral hearing Sept. 15 in the common pleas courtroom. Terrin “Randy” R. Long, 46, of Wilmington, is charged with the death of 32-year-old Dianna Jean Crum in May 1993.
There are circumstances that might require a court to provide an indigent defendant funds to hire a private investigator and expert witnesses, Rudduck wrote in his court entry on the request. But there is another side to this coin, according to the judge. A key consideration in determining whether to order state-funded expert assistance, according to Rudduck, is gauging what the probable value of the added service is, and the risk of error in the legal proceedings if the assistance is not provided. “If the court believes the accuracy of the expected trial is adversely affected by not providing the defendant this expert’s advice, the court will authorize expenditure of reasonable funds to ensure the accuracy of the trial,” Rudduck wrote.
Excerpted from wnewssj.com
