UPDATE @ 4:30 p.m. (Dec. 31):
The day after Christmas former Greene County Sheriff’s Maj. Eric Spicer and his attorneys filed a motion for a new trial in federal court.
Spicer, 45, was indicted in the U.S. Southern District Court in Dayton on seven counts related to allegedly acquiring and possessing a Heckler and Koch HK416 machine gun illegally. Three counts stem from the 2009-10 application and delivery of the gun. Four counts are from 2014 when federal agents seized the weapon at Spicer’s residence about three weeks after Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer fired him.
On Dec. 13, Spicer was found guilty of knowingly possessing a machine gun and of possessing a gun that was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. However, he was found not guilty on five counts related to falsifications on documents to purchase and register the gun and misrepresenting himself as a police officer.
After hearing the jury’s verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett said a pre-sentence investigation would be done before setting a date for Spicer’s sentencing.
In his motion for a new trial filed on Dec. 26, Spicer’s attorney John D. Smith wrote that, “the jury’s verdict (s) … (are) against the manifest weight of the evidence and undisputed testimony reveals that reasonable minds could come to only one conclusion; Spicer was not guilty of knowingly possessing this machine gun without authority. The statutes as applied to Eric Spicer were unconstitutional as applied and violated his due process rights.”
“We have no comment on the pending defense motions at this time,” said Jennifer Thornton, spokeswoman for assistant U.S. attorney Dwight Keller.
Smith did not immediately respond to a phone call and an email placed by this newspaper on Wednesday.
Fischer referred all questions regarding Spicer to the federal prosecutor’s office when contacted on Wednesday.
First take:
Former Greene County Sheriff’s Maj. Eric Spicer was found guilty by a federal jury on two of seven counts related to his purchase and possession of a machine gun.
Spicer, 45, admitted to signing Sheriff Gene Fischer’s name on documents to acquire a Heckler and Koch HK416 machine gun, but testified he did so with Fischer’s knowledge and approval.
After hearing the jury’s verdict in Dayton’s U.S District Court, U.S District Court Judge Michael Barrett released the jury without setting Spicer’s sentencing date.
Spicer was found guilty of knowingly possessing a machine gun and of possessing the gun that was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
Spicer took the stand in his own defense Thursday, and contradicted testimony from other sheriff’s office employees. His attorney, John David Smith, suggested Fischer was afraid of bad publicity.
Prosecutors painted Spicer as someone who wanted a machine gun even though he wasn’t on the SWAT team and did anything he could do to acquire one.
