An Oregon man who has a lawsuit pending against Lucas County’s consolidated 911 agency regarding his wife’s 2021 murder has been certified as a write-in candidate for county commissioner during the March 19 primary election.

The county Board of Elections on Friday certified the write-in petition of Knute E. Huber, 71, a registered Democrat.

Listed on the party ballot for commissioner are Anita Lopez, whom county Democrats appointed Jan. 5 to fill a vacancy left by Tina Skeldon Wozniak’s retirement, and Paula Hicks-Hudson, the former Toledo mayor who opted not to seek the vacancy appointment.

The Democrats’ primary winner will face Waterville councilman John Rozic, who is unopposed in the Republican primary.

Mr. Huber’s wife, Johanna Crawford, was fatally shot Dec. 16, 2021 by Malcolm D. Fisher, the father of Ms. Crawford’s granddaughter, who is serving a life prison sentence for murder. One day short of a year later, Mr. Huber sued the Lucas County 911 Regional Council of Governments, three of its employees, Fisher, and 10 “John Doe” defendants for wrongful death.

The lawsuit contended that the 911 agency, two of its dispatchers, a supervisor, and the John Does sufficiently mishandled a 911 call from a cousin of Fisher’s reporting that Fisher was headed to the Huber/Crawford home that they are negligently responsible for Ms. Crawford’s death.

The case is currently stayed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court while the plaintiff appeals Judge Eric Allen Marks’ ruling in May that the 911 agency is immune in the case and several of the named defendants appeal the judge’s ruling that they are not immune.

First Published January 26, 2024, 9:41 p.m.