By Scott Halasz
XENIA — Howard Reeves, the Fairborn man who had his conviction overturned by the Ohio Second District Court of Appeals, will be tried again.
Greene County Assistant Prosecutor David Hayes said Thursday that all the charges against Reeves, minus the two the court said could not be retried, still stand and Reeves will face another trial.
Reeves, 68, was was found guilty of three counts of child rape, as well as five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, by Greene County Common Pleas Judge Michael Buckwalter in March 2015.
The appeals court, in a decision filed Aug. 26, reversed Buckwalter’s decision and sent the base back to the Greene County Prosecutor’s office.
In an appeal document, William Daly, Reeves’ court-appointed attorney, listed several issues for the appeals court to review, one of which was Reeves’ right to a speedy trial, which according to Daly, was not upheld. Another issue relates to an incorrectly stated plea deal that Reeves was offered prior to the start of his trial. Reeves was told the incorrect possible sentences for charges he would have been required to plead guilty to in accepting the deal. Before the trial began, Reeves turned down the deal.
The appeals court ruled that Reeves received “ineffective assistance when his counsel failed to object to the trial court’s decision to not allow him the opportunity to accept the plea bargain offered by the State,” and that that the trial court erred when it refused to give Reeves the opportunity to accept the plea bargain.
It’s not yet known when a new trial would begin.