LOGAN — The Hocking County Prosecutor’s office has asked a judge to terminate the appointments of special prosecutors in a handful of cases, including that of a Fairfield County man charged with murder, and that of a former Hocking County Sheriff’s chief deputy charged with theft and witness intimidation.
In each of those two cases, Prosecutor Jennifer Graham has also asked the Hocking County Common Pleas Court to appoint a new special prosecutor. She has not taken this step, however, in two other cases being handled by special prosecutors, and involving a couple charged with raping children.
On Thursday, June 27 Graham filed motions to terminate special prosecutors in the cases of Isaac Pence, Caleb Moritz, Paul Andrew Sebring, and Irene Day, as well as motions to appoint new special prosecutors on the cases of Pence and Moritz. In each case the motion states simply that the services of the appointed prosecutors “are no longer needed by the Hocking County Prosecutor’s Office in this matter.”
Pence is charged with murder, felonious assault, obstructing justice and tampering with evidence. He is alleged to have fatally stabbed a 22-year-old Lancaster man, Charles D. Starner, during a fight in the aftermath of a party at a Sullivan Road rental cabin in April 2023.
Special prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Cynthia Ellison, William Walton and Erik Spitzer, are handling the case for the state. Graham is seeking to appoint William L. Archer, Jr., the prosecutor in Vinton County, as an assistant special prosecutor.
Graham has also asked for termination and replacement of the special prosecutors in a case related to Spence’s that of Sabra Flagg, who is charged with obstructing justice for allegedly lying to sheriff’s officers when questioned about the stabbing.
Moritz, who resigned last year as second in command at the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office, is facing charges of intimidation of an attorney, victim, or witness in a criminal case; grand theft; corrupting another with drugs; tampering with evidence; unlawful transactions in weapons; forgery; and theft.
The special prosecutors from the AG’s office handling his case are Ellison and Brad Tammaro. Graham has asked that Archer be appointed special prosecutor in that case as well.
Two other cases in which Graham has asked for termination of special prosecutors are those of Paul Andrew Sebring and Irene Day. The two, whose cases are connected, are charged with multiple counts of rape and gross sexual imposition (GSI), with Sebring also charged with failure to register as a sex offender. They are alleged to have sexually abused two juvenile victims, both under the age of 10.
Ellison and Spitzer of the AG’s office are handling those cases.
Another high-profile Hocking County case being handled by special prosecutor is that of Jessica Dicken, a former Hocking County commissioner charged with theft and other offenses. Her case is being handled for the state by three attorneys from the Ohio Auditor’s Office, Robert F. Smith, Samuel J. Kirk, and Thomas Anger .No motion to terminate the special prosecutor appointments has been made in Dicken’s case.
Ellison and Spitzer of the AG’s office are also serving as special prosecutors in the case of Stephen Hardbarger, a Logan man who is facing felony charges in connection to an armed standoff in July 2023 in which he allegedly fired over 160 rifle rounds at police. No termination motion has been filed in that case either.
The Logan Daily News sought comment from Graham on Friday and Monday, but was unable to make contact with her by the paper’s press time Monday.
In answer to a question about the use of special prosecutors by the county prosecutor’s office, asked by The Logan Daily News during the Republican primary race for county prosecutor, Graham, who was a candidate, said: It is the absolute role of the Hocking County Prosecutor and his/her office to prosecute the crimes that occur within Hocking County. Absent a defined conflict of interest or rare extenuating circumstances, special prosecutors are unwarranted. As an experienced attorney, my goal as your prosecutor is to become less reliant on the Attorney General’s Office to handle even the highest profile cases.”
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