COLUMBUS Illness results in delay of murder trial

Hermando Harton Jr. is accused of killing his wife, fleeing police and endangering his children.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR COLUMBUS CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The poor health of a former Youngstown man and ex-cop charged with killing his wife and leading authorities on a multicounty chase is preventing his trial from continuing.
A Franklin County Common Please Court judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case against Hermando Harton Jr., who is known as Cliff, after learning of Harton's illness.
Judge Jennifer L. Brunner tentatively rescheduled Harton's trial for May 2, 2003. He faces multiple charges including aggravated murder, attempted murder and felonious assault in the Aug. 2 slaying.
Jury selection had been ongoing in Harton's case when the court was informed that Harton had been transferred from the county jail to the Ohio State University Medical Center, Harton's lawyer Sarah Thomas Kovoor said.
Harton suffers from a kidney infection and is in pain, Kovoor said.
"My concern is he's going to get worse," she added.
OSU medical center officials confirmed that Harton was being treated there, but said no information was available on his condition.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien agreed to the mistrial, court records show. O'Brien couldn't immediately be reached to comment.
Indictment
Harton is accused in a multiple-count indictment of fatally shooting his wife, Elizabeth J. Harton, in Franklin County, taking his children and then fleeing north on Interstate 71.
Authorities say Harton stole a vehicle in Morrow County and led officers on a chase that ended in Ashland County with authorities shooting and injuring him.
Harton is paralyzed from the neck down as a result of that shooting, Kovoor said.
He faces felony charges including aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, two counts each of felonious assault and attempted murder, and failure to comply with an order of a police officer, and a misdemeanor charge of child endangering.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek the death penalty if he's convicted.
The aggravated murder charge relates to his wife's death; aggravated robbery relates to the vehicle theft, and the attempted murder and felonious assault charges relate to shots reportedly fired at law enforcers. All the charges were issued by a grand jury, which also charged him with one count of endangering children and failure to comply with an order from a police officer. Authorities said those charges relate to the children's being with him during flight and the flight from police on I-71.