COLUMBIANA COUNTY MANSLAUGHTER CASE Defense wants alcohol evidence to be tossed

Efforts continue to settle the case through a plea bargain.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Defense attorneys will argue for scrapping key blood-alcohol level evidence in a case in which three people are accused of enabling a teen to get intoxicated before she was killed in a traffic accident.
During a pre-trial hearing Friday, Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, set the evidence hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday and the trial in the case for 1 p.m.
Judge Pike also set a case-status hearing for 2:30 p.m. Monday after learning Friday that the prosecution and the defense are trying to work out a plea bargain.
Charged with involuntary manslaughter in the March 2002 traffic death of 16-year-old Lisa Groner are Joseph McCallister, 22, of Salem Township; and Travis Bolton, 31, and Wanita Bolton, 30, both of Hanoverton. The Boltons are married. McCallister is Wanita Bolton's brother.
Version of events
Prosecutors allege the Boltons had a party at their home March 1, 2002. At the time, the Boltons lived next to McCallister on Teegarden Road in Salem Township.
Lisa attended the party, authorities say. She was killed after leaving when the car she was driving on Teegarden Road went off the highway and struck a tree.
Prosecutors say Lisa's blood-alcohol content was higher than the 0.10 legal limit allowed for driving.
Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Jones Riley, who is handling the case, refused to say Friday what authorities believe Lisa's blood-alcohol content was at the time.
It's alleged that McCallister and the Boltons helped cause Lisa's death. McCallister is accused of furnishing the alcohol Lisa drank at the party. The Boltons are accused of providing a place for the drinking to occur.
Defense motion
In a motion filed Tuesday, defense attorneys Jim Hartford of East Palestine and Lawrence Stacey II of Columbiana, asked that the state's test results for Lisa's blood-alcohol level be banned as evidence in the case.
Hartford and Stacey say the blood samples used to establish Lisa's blood-alcohol level were improperly collected and maintained.
For example, Lisa's birth date attached to one of the samples is wrong, the motion states.
It also says, without elaborating, that the defense has evidence that Lisa may have drank alcohol before arriving at the Boltons.
McCallister and the Boltons remain free on bond.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony, the defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.