Court hears Coonrod's final pretrial WATCH THE VIDEO

A final pretrial was held Wednesday in Highland County Common Pleas Court – the last locally scheduled proceeding that will take place prior to his second trial on charges of murder. 

Coonrod, 42, of Greenfield, was found guilty in October of two counts of felony endangering children. He had faced aggravated murder charges with death penalty specifications stemming from a March fire in his apartment on Lafayette Street in Greenfield, during which his sons Thomas, 4, and Stephen, 3, were killed. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the aggravated murder charges, two charges of murder with lesser charges of manslaughter and reckless homicide, and aggravated arson. The state will not seek to retry him on the aggravated murder charges, so he is no longer facing the death penalty. 

The second trial is scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 24. Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss – who will remain the presiding judge during the second trial – said Wednesday that for the trial Coonrod will be transported to the jail in Pickaway County the Friday before the trial and will remain housed there for the proceedings. Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward, according to Coss, is coordinating with the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office, and a deputy from Highland County will be sent for the trial to transport Coonrod to the courthouse. 

Coss said that he anticipates the retrial to go more quickly than the first trial, which lasted just over two weeks, with jury selections beginning on Sept. 27, concluding with the return of verdicts on Oct. 11. 

It took more than three days to seat a jury during the last trial, out of a pool of 200 jurors. Coss said that 50 jurors are scheduled to report during the second trial, and he anticipates it will take approximately half a day to seat a jury. 

"My thinking is that the case will move on more quickly than perhaps it did before," Coss said. 

Coss said he felt the presentation of evidence should take approximately four days. Defense counsel William Mooney and Jerry McHenry and Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey agreed that it should take approximately four days. 

The Pickaway County court has asked Coss that the trial not take place over a weekend, so if the presentation of evidence, which includes witness testimony, is concluded on a Friday, then court will adjourn for the weekend with closing arguments on Monday. However, if it is concluded earlier, the case will be given to the jury to begin deliberations. 

The state ordered retesting of some pieces of evidence, according to Grandey, and test results had just been received Wednesday and were turned over to the defense. Mooney said they had not had an opportunity to review the results. Coss ordered that any motions by the defense prompted from the retesting be filed by Friday. The defense has not ordered new tests of its own. 

Jury selection will begin at 9 a.m. Jan. 24. 

Also on Wednesday, the Highland County Board of Commissioners reviewed a correspondence from Coss regarding the costs of the trial. 

According to the letter dated Dec. 30, Coss submitted a breakdown of the expenses of the first trial.

"The total expenses do not include any indigent attorney fees as I have not received a request for approval of that," Coss wrote. "The application is not normally submitted until completion of the case. I denied portions of bills submitted by defense for defense experts. If this decision is appealed, there could be an increase in those expenses depending upon the ruling of the court of appeals."

The county has previously stated that defense attorney fees could be in excess of $50,000 for the first trial. 

Coss said in the letter that because Coonrod is no longer facing the death penalty, the jury will not have to be sequestered, which is a cost savings to the county "and should reduce the time of the trial by two days."

"I estimate the total cost for the items listed on the summary for the second trial will be approximately $30,000, although this could change significantly depending on the development of the case," according to Coss. "I wanted to give you a rough estimate so you would know what to expect in monitoring the 2011 budget."