RELATED: Son sentenced in drug case also implicating his mother, a local teacher
Panzeca, a teacher for more than 20 years at Five Points Elementary School in Clearcreek Twp., is on leave while facing allegations that she allowed her home to become a “party house” and assisted her son in purchasing drugs using the online currency bitcoin.
In April, two Springboro patrolmen testified about videos taken during investigation in the case in March and April 2017.
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Judge Donald Oda II is expected to rule on motions filed by Panzeca’s lawyer, Andre Ostrowski, in Warren County Common Pleas Court seeking sanctions, including dismissal of the case against her.
Oda, who issued a search warrant that’s also challenged in the case, granted a hearing on claims similar to those Hughes made in the son’s case — and overruled by Kirby — before the boy entered a no-contest plea.
“Since the judge that signed and executed the search warrant in the first place granted a Franks hearing, this court must also do the same and permit defendant to cross-examine the officers,” Hughes said in the motion filed Wednesday in Warren County Juvenile Court.
A Franks hearing is used to determine if officers who sought a search warrant were truthful in obtaining it.
Panzeca was charged with drug abuse and child endangering after an undercover raid last May of her home in the city's Settlers Walk planned community.
RELATED: Warren County drug task force raids Springboro teacher’s home
In two motions filed after an April suppression hearing, Panzeca’s lawyer, Andrea Ostrowski, asked Oda not to rule on the suppression “until the matter of the missing police videotapes is resolved.”
Ostrowski said she would push her suppression motion if the tapes are not brought to court and press for sanctions against prosecutors - including dismissal of the case - if they are not.
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In another motion, Ostrowski "seeks to compel" prosecutors to provide the videotapes that she learned of during the suppression hearing and that she suggests were "destroyed," citing a Dayton Daily News article.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell has indicated his office would respond in court.
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Also Wednesday, Hughes asked for his appeal of Kirby’s sentencing of the son — currently in the Ohio 12th Appellate District in Middletown — to be sent back to Kirby’s court until he rules on the new motion.
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