Judge refuses to dismiss charge in death

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A trial for a man charged with murder in the death of his 7-month-old daughter will begin Monday, a judge ruled.
Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court issued his ruling Wednesday that denied Ranell Ziegler's request to have the charge dismissed.
Atty. Jeffrey Goodman, who represents Ziegler, had argued that the charge should be dismissed because Ziegler, 24, of Commerce Street, was not tried in a timely manner. Goodman noted that Ziegler's case should have been heard in December 2002.
State law mandates that defendants who are in jail awaiting trial should have their cases heard within 90 days. Ziegler was arrested in October 2002.
Prosecutors and the judge, however, stated that the case was delayed because Ziegler's former lawyer, Tom Wright, filed a motion to prohibit prosecutors from using Ziegler's statements to police as evidence.
Once that motion is filed, the trial time is delayed, the judge stated in his motion.
Goodman told the judge the motion filed by Wright is not time-stamped from the clerk of courts office, so there is no way to know when it was filed.
Judge Stuard stated in the ruling that the court's computer docket notes that the motion was filed Dec. 12.
Authorities say Ziegler killed A'lena Ziegler on Oct. 3. Warren police said the child may have died after being thrown. Police said someone called 911 on Oct. 2 to say a baby had been injured at 1280 Roberts Ave. N.W. The child was taken by ambulance to a Warren hospital, then transferred to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, where she died, police said.
Police said Ziegler would often baby-sit while the child's mother, Ashley Croff, 19, was working. Croff lived at the Roberts Avenue address with her mother, police said.