LISBON Court rules that county must pay public defender

The county will apply to the state, which is expected to reimburse part of the expense.
LISBON -- Columbiana County will get slapped with a bill for nearly half an attorney's fees for representing convicted killer Gordon Reynolds in an appeal of his death sentence.
Earlier this week, the 7th District Court of Appeals approved a request from court-appointed Atty. John Juhasz of Youngstown for payment of $13,147.
Juhasz's bill is for expenses plus more than 270 hours of work he performed on Reynolds' defense from May 1999 until March.
Juhasz charged $45 an hour in defending Reynolds during an appeal he filed with the 7th District court regarding his death sentence.
Reynolds, 73, lost the appeal, and the matter is being taken before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Payment: County Auditor Nancy Milliken said Thursday that the county must pay Juhasz the $13,147, which will come from the general fund.
The county will then apply to the Ohio Public Defender's Office to be reimbursed.
Typically, the state reimburses about 42 percent of such costs.
Reynolds is on death row for the 1988 slaying and dismemberment of his girlfriend, Lynn Hanna.
Testimony preceding Reynolds' 1995 conviction showed that he used a gun to kill Hanna, 43, to prevent her from telling authorities about a fire they'd set at their Stagecoach Road home in December 1985.