The case against against a Union Township man accused of regularly raping his daughter, a child, and then trying to hire a hit man to murder her and three witnesses, and sexually abusing two other children, has been continued, yet again.
Joseph Addison, 38, who was first indicted nearly a year ago, and has since hired and fired two defense attorneys, is awaiting trial on a number of charges.
In August, he was charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition, a third degree felony, one count of gross sexual imposition, a fourth degree felony, and two counts of rape, a first degree felony.
Court documents show that the gross sexual imposition charges stem from a Jan. 1, 2007, incident, and the two rape charges stem from an Aug. 7, 2003, incident.
The alleged incidents involved two children.
These charges are added to the original charges Addison is facing of seven counts of rape, a first degree felony, and one count of gross sexual imposition, a third degree felony, for alleged rape incidents that took place on Feb. 11, 2012, Feb. 11, 2013, Feb. 11, 2015, Feb. 11, 2016 – notably the same date each year, which is Addison’s daughter’s birthday – and Nov. 10, 2017.
Addison’s daughter was six or seven years old when the alleged incidents started, assistant prosecutor Scott O’Reilly has said.
Addison is also indicted on charges – one count of conspiracy to commit murder and five counts of attempted aggravated murder, all felonies of the first degree – that he designed a “Murder for Hire” scheme.
He solicited the assistance of another inmate and set in motion the plan for the murders, according to Clermont County Sheriff Steve Leahy.
Addison is accused of planning to have the other inmate kill his daughter, her legal guardian and three other witnesses to eliminate testimony needed by the state for a successful prosecution.
Addison’s case has been teeming with issues.
In February, Addison tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but after a psychiatric examination, the court found Addison competent to stand trial.
In July, he fired his first attorney and was granted a new one, and in August, the two new victims stepped forward.
On Sept. 10, Addison appeared in front of Judge Victor Haddad – who has been handling the case – for his plea or trial setting, but the case was continued to Oct. 15 to await more evidence.
During the hearing, Addison withdrew his pro se motions – meaning he filed them on his own, without his attorney’s knowledge – to dismiss some of the charges against him.
In one instance, Addison had cited double jeopardy, but as Haddad pointed out, in the state of Ohio, double jeopardy can’t be invoked until a witness has been sworn in.
Addison had also submitted a motion to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence.
“He captioned them as motions to dismiss, but they’re frivolous; he’s now withdrawn all of them,” O’Reilly explained after the hearing.
The defense was also awaiting independent DNA analysis, which has since come in.
Then, before the new court date, Addison fired his second defense attorney on Oct. 4, and Addison’s court date was pushed to Oct. 25; on Oct. 23, the court date was moved up to Oct. 24.
The court granted Addison’s request to retain a new attorney, Monika Roth.
She was part of Andrew Frank’s defense team; in August, Frank was found not guilty on two counts of felony rape and to lesser charges of sexual battery, stemming from an incident on March 29, 2016. The case was retried after a hung jury occurred in February 2018.
Addison’s new plea or trial setting date was set for Nov. 9, but that date has been pushed again to give Roth time to acquaint herself with the case.
Haddad pointed out that Roth had a lot of discovery to get through; discovery in a criminal trial is a pre-trial method of gathering evidence.
“Mr. Addison understands your need to get through all of this, and he continues to waive voluntarily his speedy trial rights, is that correct?” Haddad asked Roth.
Roth responded,”yes.”
Addison’s next hearing is set for Dec. 11.
In the meantime, O’Reilly has said that the prosecution doesn’t have any plea on the table.
If found guilty, Addison could face multiple sentences of life without parole.
Brett Milam, editor for The Sun, contributed to this story.