Lawyers battle as ex-Realtor’s trial on 17 sex charges nears in Warren County

Lawyers for former Dayton-area Realtor Timothy G. Hall continue to fight with prosecutors over evidence they want to use in his defense on 17 rape or sexual battery charges stemming from alleged acts between 1991 and 1999, but filed last July in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

The trial is now scheduled for five days, beginning on Aug. 24. The accusers, who are known to Hall, are not being identified.

In one of a long series of motions, prosecutors urged Judge Tim Tepe to bar the defense from bringing up at trial evidence from a separate 2008 incident involving an accuser. Hall’s lawyers countered with a motion to seal their response to the motion.

On July 24, Tepe ruled “the presumption of allowing public access is outweighed by” Hall’s interest in sealing the response and sealing was “the least restrictive means available.”

Two days earlier, Hall’s lawyers filed a motion urging Tepe to seal their response regarding the report by a since-retired Springboro detective marked “counsel only” “due to the secrecy of subject matter.”

Hall, now 57, of Clearcreek Twp., is represented by four lawyers, Christopher Conard, David Pierce and Jason Norwood of the Coolidge Wall firm in Dayton and Kevin Hughes, a Springboro lawyer.

In another motion, they disclosed plans to call as many as 26 witnesses, including retired Springboro detectives Lisa Walsh and Tim Parker, as well as three experts.

Walsh is subpoenaed to appear from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28, to testify during the defense on the 2008 report.

Hall’s lawyers also want Tepe to grant them access to the transcript of the grand jury session that resulted in Hall’s indictment.

They claim prosecutors have “failed to provide any detail to distinguish multiple charges for the same acts without any detail regarding separate, identifiable offenses” or “any detail as to specific actions” related to the charges against him.

“Numerous charges cannot be made through estimation or inference,” Hall’s lawyers said in a motion pointing to other cases where charges were dropped as a result.

Hall faces 17 felonies, including 10 first-degree rape and seven third-degree sexual battery charges. Two involve a child younger than 13, seven allege force was used and one that the victim was “substantially impaired,” according to filings.

Hall is accused of engaging in “sexual conduct, to wit: the insertion, however slight, or any part of the body or any instrument, apparatus, or other object in the vaginal opening of another,” but “has not been provided with any detail of what any count specifically alleges,” his lawyers said in the motion for the grand jury transcript.

“It appears at this point we are going,” Hughes said.

“We feel Tim has done nothing wrong and is innocent. This came out of nowhere.”

In their response, prosecutors Travis Vieux and Carrie Heisele dismiss the move for the grand jury transcript as “simply an attempt” to get information “prohibited by law” and defend the level of detail provided on the different charges.

Likewise, the prosecutors opposed a motion to “sever” or separate the cases involving the two accusers. “All of the charged offenses are of the same or similar character and the same witnesses would testify,” according to the prosecution motion.

Tepe has yet to rule on this and other pending motions.

Other filings indicate Nancy Johnson, a former Springboro schoolteacher, now living in Texas is to testify.

In addition, the SureCare Medical Center in Springboro is to provide a patient’s medical records for review by Tepe and the lawyers in the case.

Hall was released from the Warren County Jail on July 1, 2019, after posting a $150,000 bond and remains on electronic monitoring.

Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12.

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