DAYTON, Ohio — A man accused of murdering his girlfriend’s special-needs 7-year-old son and then dumping the child’s body is set to go on trial next month.
But his lawyer does not want the trial to happen in Dayton.
The trial has to do with the death of Hershall Creachbaum last year.
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News Center 7’s John Bedell has been following this case since the start.
The suspect’s lawyer argues he cannot get a fair trial in Montgomery County.
Michael Kendrick has had the same public defender since a grand jury indicted him last year after police found Hershall Creachbaum’s remains near the McLure Street Bridge, just down the street from his house.
Investigators said Kendrick moved the remains more than once before officers found them.
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Now, Kendrick’s lawyer wants his trial transferred out of Montgomery County.
Kendrick’s murder trial is set to begin next month.
If his public defense lawyer has his way, the trial will happen in another county.
The defense is asking for a change of venue in a filing on the grounds that “...pervasive, prejudicial pre-trial publicity has rendered it impossible to obtain a fair and impartial jury in Montgomery County.”
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Arguing at another point: “... the media onslaught...combined with legislative and political weaponization of this case by local lawmakers has resulted in a community primed to believe that Mr. Kendrick is guilty, long before any evidence has been presented in court.”
“Well, I mean, it’s a pretty standard argument,” said Tom Hagel, Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Dayton School of Law.
Hagel has decades of experience in criminal law.
We sent Hagel the defense’s motion and the state’s opposition to it. He said the decision on whether to move the trial will be up to the judge.
“And the defendant has the burden of convincing the trial judge that the prejudice exists due to pre-trial publicity,” Hagel said. “It’s a high bar. Quite frankly, motions for a change of venue are seldom granted.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: People demand justice 1 year after 7-year-old boy’s remains found in Dayton
In their filing opposing the change of venue request, Montgomery County Prosecutors write: “there is no evidence to suggest the anticipated comprehensive voir dire will not be a sufficient way to obtain a fair and impartial jury.”
Adding, “...there has been no clear and manifest showing that the news coverage has been so pervasive and unusual that attempts to seat a jury would be in vain, the state requests that defendant’s pre-trial motion for change of venue be overruled.”
Kendrick’s girlfriend and Hershall’s mom, Ashley Johnson, is charged with tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
This week, the judge ordered court records in her case sealed.
The change of venue has only been filed for Kendrick’s trial, and we’ll let you know what the judge decides.
Kendrick and Johnson each have their final court hearings before their trials next week.
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