An attorney for Tom Noe hopes to move forward in collecting additional evidence for claims that the convicted rare-coin dealer did not receive a fair trial -- a request that the Ohio Attorney General's Office petitioned the court to deny.
Attorney Rick Kerger filed a brief motion in U.S. District Court in Toledo Wednesday requesting a case-management conference be scheduled to "discuss future processing" of the writ filed in June claiming Noe was deprived of a fair trial when he was convicted in 2006 of the theft of millions of dollars from rare-coin funds he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Noe filed a writ of habeas corpus in June, asking the federal court to vacate his conviction and order a new trial.
In the most recent document filed, Mr. Kerger asked the court to set a conference and noted that he believes additional evidence is "appropriate."
Specifically, the one-paragraph motion identifies the questioning of John Weglian, chief of the special units division of the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office and one of the prosecutors during the 2006 trial.
"Petitioner believes discovery is appropriate with regard to the testimony of John Weglian as outlined in his traverse and that further testimony might be necessary to fully develop other issues raised," the motion stated.
In response, the state Attorney General's office filed a three-page memorandum opposing setting the conference. Saying that Noe is not entitled to discovery or an evidentiary hearing, the response stated that the court should only be able to consider the evidence already available when deciding the merits of Noe's claims.
"Under the clear language of [case law], … this court's determination of Noe's claims is limited to the state-court record and other evidence 'has no bearing' on this court's review," the document stated. "Allowing further factual development would be futile because the court could not consider the information obtained in further discovery or an evidentiary hearing in resolving Noe's three grounds of relief."
A Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury found Noe guilty in 2006 of 29 charges of corruption, theft, money laundering, and tampering with records for the theft of millions of dollars from two $25 million rare-coin funds.
He was found not guilty on 11 other charges, and several others were dismissed or consolidated. Noe was sentenced to 18 years in state prison and ordered to pay $13,747,000 in restitution, the cost of prosecution totaling $2,979,402, and $139,000 in fines.
His conviction was upheld by the 6th District Court of Appeals in December, 2009, and on June 9, 2010, the Supreme Court of Ohio refused to grant his appeal a hearing.
Mr. Kerger filed a writ in federal court in June stating three grounds for relief, including allegations against the trial court of improper denial of the motion to change venue, improper allowance of the state's experts, and improper denial of the defendant's experts.
Noe began serving his sentence in Hocking Correctional Facility in December, 2008, after he finished two years in federal prison for making illegal contributions to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
No court dates have been set.
First Published January 6, 2012, 7:29 a.m.
