Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly is due back in Athens County Common Pleas Court for a pretrial Friday at 1 p.m., when the court will address the status of his case.
Kelly, 63, was served a 25-count indictment at the end of January. He pleaded not guilty to all 25 charges, 23 of which are felonies, at his arraignment Feb. 10. He has been placed on a bond of $50,000 and is on a personal recognizance bond, which is essentially a promise between Kelly and the court that he won’t have to face incarceration so long as he attends all of his court hearings.
The bond is typically used when the defendant is not a flight risk.
Kelly has said he will not step aside pending the results of the trial, although Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor appointed three retired judges to serve on a commission that will determine whether Kelly should be suspended from office.
Bret Crow, spokesman for O’Connor’s office, said the judges will hand down a decision by March 5.
If the commission chooses to suspend Kelly, the sheriff will have 14 days to contest the decision.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Kelly’s indictment at a press conference Jan. 31 after a state probe turned up evidence that a special grand jury said was enough to indict the sheriff on charges such as money laundering, perjury, theft in office and tampering with evidence.
Kelly and his attorney, Bradley Koffel, could not be reached by press time.
There are no future pretrial or jury trial dates listed in court documents as of Thursday.
@KellyPFisher
kf398711@ohiou.edu
