Citing the extensive media coverage of the case, attorneys for Union Township resident David J. Carroll Jr. are requesting that his murder trial be held outside Clermont County.
Carroll, who has pleaded not guilty in the death of his three-year old foster son Marcus Fiesel, appeared in the Court of Common Pleas Oct. 12.
Attorneys Stephen Wenke and Scott Rubenstein were appointed by Judge Jerry McBride to defend Carroll after Carroll told the court that he could not afford a lawyer.
Even though Carroll had the right to go on trial within ninety days of the Sept. 6 indictments, he has waived his right to a speedy trial and voiced no objection to a scheduled Feb. 26 trial date.
At the Oct. 12 pre-trial hearing, Wenke told the judge that they might soon be filing a motion asking county taxpayers to pay the expense of hiring a private investigator to look up information which Wenke says could help in Carroll’s defense (he declined to state specifics).
Rubinstein said that the defense team may also file a motion for a change of venue. He further stated that before the change of venue would be granted, they would make an attempt to try and seat an impartial panel of jurors in the county.
Prosecutors say that Marcus died after Liz and David Carroll restrained and left him in a closet the weekend of Aug. 4. On Aug. 15, the couple claimed that he went missing from an Anderson Township park.
Liz Carroll is scheduled to be tried on Jan. 22 and David Carroll on Feb. 26. The Carrolls are charged with murder, child endangerment, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, and kidnapping (Ohio law states that restraining a child deprives him of his liberty and freedom and this constitutes kidnapping).