MOUNT GILEAD — The Morrow County Common Pleas Court dismissed complicity to burglary charges against Devon Strader, due to a failure by the State of Ohio to bring the case to trial within the time required by law.
The case against Strader was previously dismissed on Dec. 10, 2018, and re-indicted in July 2019.
According to the motion to dismiss filed by Andrew Wick, Strader’s attorney, on Dec. 31, 2019, the Morrow County Prosecutor’s Office had previously acknowledged the number of days it had remaining to bring Strader to trial and failed to do so, requiring the dismissal.
The State was represented by Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Smith.
Judge Tom C. Elkin granted the motion to dismiss on Jan. 3. Elkin noted, “The State of Ohio has failed to bring the Defendant to trial within 270 days of service of Indictment.”
A Morrow County Grand Jury had indicted Strader for “aiding and abetting” Michael Ball in the crime, a third-degree felony.
Strader was charged by Morrow County with complicity to aggravated murder in 2011 in the beating death of Joseph Rosella. Those charges were dismissed and Strader plead guilty to tampering with evidence.
