Judge will rule on motions in McLin case

Source: Dayton Daily News, OhioJuly 27--DAYTON -- A Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge will decide in the next couple weeks on motions to dismiss and to sever brought by the attorney for former funeral director Scherrie McLin.文件倉Judge Mary K. Huffman said Friday that hearing on a motion for a change of venue won't be held unless and until seating a jury became problematic in the McLin's fraud trial scheduled to start Aug. 19. Huffman said she will issue a written decision on the motions to dismiss and to separate the charges into multiple cases before the scheduled trial and possibly before the final pretrial hearing Aug. 6.McLin, 54, of Trotwood, was indicted Feb. 12 on 17 felony charges. The indictment came after a county prosecutor's office investigation of $200,000 in missing prepaid funeral contract funds McLin handled while operating the McLin Funeral Home, 2801 N. Gettysburg Ave.McLin's funeral director license and the funeral home's license were permanently revoked by the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors last year after it was revealed that McLin violated nine state laws and administrative codes.Thomas Shaw, a 12-year veteran criminal investigator for the Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office fraud and economic crimes division, testified Friday about the McLin case.Shaw said the investigation started in April 2011 when a former McLin Funeral Home employee told investigators that he had child support money withheld from his pay that wasn't remitted to the child enforcement agency. Shaw said further investigation found that 60 people were victims in the prepaid funeral contracts fraud.Defense attorney Clyde Bennett II filed存倉a motion for a change of venue which stated: "A fair and impartial trial cannot be held in this case in this county in light of the negative and prejudicial publicity (McLin) has received regarding this case and other alleged acts of misconduct."Prosecutors answered Bennett's motion by writing that: "McLin has offered no evidence to sustain her burden of proving that pretrial publicity has so pervaded this case as to deny her a fair trial. In fact, McLin provides absolutely no evidence as to the type of media coverage that has been given, let alone provided any suggestion as to how such coverage would deny her fair trial."There were no statements about the change of venue motion during Friday's hearing.In September 2012, the cremated remains of 56 people were found at a home owned by McLin and her sister, Tanya Anderson.The Montgomery County Coroner's Office took the boxes of cremated remains and Dayton police took boxes of records that appeared to be from the former McLin Funeral Home, said Lt. Wendy Stiver. It was the latest incident that has involved McLin and the funeral home in recent years, during which she has lost her funeral director's license, the business' operating license, and a major lawsuit involving a client's family.Scherrie McLin is the half-sister of former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin and the daughter of Dayton power broker C.J. McLin Jr., the longtime Ohio Representative who died in 1988. His obituary in Jet Magazine identified Tanya as his stepdaughter.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services自存倉