Murder trial delayed while attorney’s fate is decided
Prosectuors seek to have Menashe removed from case
by Gary Huffenberger
Wilmington News Journal

February 27, 2003 - A local murder trial scheduled to begin Friday was delayed Wednesday, a day after the defendant’s attorney was charged with two felonies connected to the case.

Instead, a hearing is scheduled for Friday to determine whether Columbus attorney Diane Menashe will remain as legal counsel for David Mueller, a New Vienna police officer who’s been on unpaid administrative leave since charges were filed against him in the fatal shooting last year of 32-year-old Robert Cundiff.

Meanwhile, Menashe appeared Wednesday in Clinton County Municipal Court in an initial hearing on charges of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. About the only business conducted in the brief hearing was to release her on her own recognizance, something prosecutors said they did not oppose.

Afterward her attorney, Samuel Shamansky of Columbus, was asked to comment on the charges. "She’s turned herself in on these two complaints. We’re just going to go and prepare for the preliminary hearing like we would any other case."

Shamansky declined comment on Menashe’s plans on whether to withdraw as Mueller’s attorney.

Menashe is one of six people charged with hindering the sheriff’s office investigation into the Feb. 4, 2002 shooting. The other five include three current or former police officers, the village mayor and Mueller.

Prosecutors Wednesday asked Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. Rudduck to rule Menashe disqualified as Mueller’s attorney because the charges against Menashe are related to Mueller’s case.

In the written memorandum filed on the disqualification request, Assistant Clinton County Prosecutor Rick Moyer argues, "Menashe has a direct conflict of interest with her client’s interest. Menashe cannot tell her client to take the stand and tell the truth (that she told him to shred the report) because this testimony inculpates her and makes her a co-conspirator in covering up a murder."

What’s more, Moyer wrote that if Mueller takes the stand, then Menashe "must instruct him to either 1) lie about who told him to shred the documents, which is suborning perjury, or 2) have him tell the truth, which makes her a co-conspirator and a criminal in the eyes of the jury."

The prosecutor added, "Menashe is ineffective as defense counsel regarding plea negotiations because any plea offered to Mueller would necessarily include an agreement to testify truthfully in a trial against Menashe."

In Rudduck’s written ruling to postpone Mueller’s trial, the judge alludes to the question of whether Menashe should be permitted to be Mueller’s lawyer. "Given the pending felony charges against Counsel Menashe, a real issue has arisen as to whether Counsel Menashe can or should continue to remain as trial counsel for Mr. Mueller," Rudduck wrote.

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Mueller Pleads Guilty

The sentencing

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