Ohio justices to hear appeal on partly deaf juror

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal involving a hearing-impaired woman who sat on a jury that convicted a man of involuntary manslaughter in a friend’s drowning death in Lake Erie.

The court agreed in June to hear the appeal by the Ottawa County prosecutor, who is trying to reinstate the conviction of Scott Speer in the 2002 drowning near South Bass Island. Oral arguments are not expected until next year.

In overturning the conviction last year, the 6th District Court of Appeals in Toledo ruled that a hearing-impaired woman who reads lips should not have been seated on the jury because she couldn’t fully understand a 911 tape that was a key piece of evidence.

Prosecutors approved the juror, but defense attorneys tried to dismiss her after she admitted she could have some difficulty. The judge refused.

Defense attorney Bradley Barbin said the issue before the Supreme Court will center on a defendant’s right to a fair trial, not on the woman’s disability.