Judge: Tensing case will be retried here in May
Ray Tensing’s retrial will take place in Hamilton County and begin May 25, a judge said Monday.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz said at a hearing that she expects the former University of Cincinnati police officer’s case to remain in the county.
“It’s the objective of this court to make sure it does,” Ghiz told prosecutors and Tensing’s attorneys.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced last month that he will seek to move the case to another county, although no formal request for a change of venue has been filed. Deters said there were “issues concerning sympathy” for Tensing involving jurors during the first trial, which ended Nov. 12 in a hung jury. He also said juror concerns about their identities being made public disrupted the first trial.
He hoped to alleviate those and other problems by moving the case to another county. Tensing’s attorney, Stew Mathews, said he has not agreed to a change of venue.
Outside the courtroom Monday, Mathews said the law says if both sides don’t agree, “then you have to try to seat a jury.”
“If we are successful in doing that, then the change of venue doesn’t become an issue,” Mathews said.
Another pretrial hearing is set for Jan. 25.
Ghiz was assigned the case at random Nov. 29, after three judges, including Judge Megan Shanahan who presided over the first trial, disqualified themselves.
2 judges pass on Tensing case; Ghiz to preside
Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 shooting of Sam DuBose as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop. Jurors in the first trial deliberated over four days before announcing they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.
In the first trial, Shanahan didn't make a ruling about change of venue until after jury selection was completed. She denied the request, which at that time was made by Mathews.