Oral arguments set for Mills case appeal
Posted 5/5/2008
Oral arguments in the appeal of Marsha Mills¹ murder conviction are set for June 17 in the Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Courthouse at New Philadelphia. A panel of three judges from the 5th District Court of Appeals based in Canton will travel to Tuscarawas County and hear arguments in a variety of cases that day. A panel visits several times per year. On Friday, Mills¹ attorneys filed their reply to the prosecution¹s written arguments on issues in the case. At issue is how 2-year-old Noah Shoup of New Philadelphia sustained the injuries that took his life. Attorneys for Mills claim Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Elizabeth Lehigh Thomakos and Mills¹ trial attorneys erred in various ways during the 12-day trial in June and those errors should prompt the higher court to overturn Mills¹ convictions for murder, felonious assault and child endangering. Mills¹ request for a new trial remains pending before trial Judge Elizabeth Lehigh Thomakos. No hearings have been set. A jury found Mills¹ guilty of Shoup¹s May 2006 death at her home. County prosecutors maintained the boy died a violent death at the hands of his baby sitter, while Public Defender Gerald A. Latanich tried to prove the boy fell down a short flight of outside steps and landed on concrete. The 57-year-old Dover grandmother is serving a sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years are served.
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