WILMINGTON — A second pretrial date has been set for three suspects in an alleged murder/robbery case.
Christian Terry, 22, Kevin Lane Noe Jr., 21, and Corey Ruffner, 22, appeared, individually, shackled and wearing black-and-white striped jail suits before Judge William McCracken on Tuesday in Clinton County Common Pleas Court.
Noe and Terry are scheduled to appear again on March 4, with Ruffner scheduled for March 11. Each has his own court-appointed attorney.
Between the first and second pretrial dates, the prosecution — represented in all three cases by Clinton County Prosecutor Richard Moyer and Assistant Prosecutor Andrew McCoy — and the defense will share and discuss any discoveries — legal information and known facts of the case — that are made.
According to court documents, the state has already provided the defense lawyers their initial discoveries and request the defense do the same when they obtain any.
The three suspects — along with 18-year-old Joshua Williams of Xenia — were charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of Layne Hall, 23, of Blanchester in January.
Court documents state that the victim and three suspects allegedly rode in a car together to meet someone at the Brownberry Apartments parking lot; soon after the four arrived, the person they were to meet — allegedly Williams — pulled up in a car, and shortly after that is when gunfire was heard.
Although court documents don’t allege that Terry, Noe or Ruffner purposely killed Hall, it alleges that if they had not taken part in initiating a robbery, the alleged murder would not have occurred.
Williams is suspected of directly causing Hall’s death. Moyer said during the indictment that the charge against Williams — unlike the charges against Terry, Noe and Ruffner — alleges the “purposeful killing of another” as a direct consequence of his own action.
Williams’ next court date is scheduled for Feb. 18.
