Change-of-venue ruling in DUI case remains on hold

By ED RUNYAN

Photo

Keith Urso

news@vindy.com

WARREN

A judge has ruled that it is premature to decide whether a trial for Keith Urso of Warren, charged with his 15th drunken-driving offense Jan. 31, should be moved out of Trumbull County because of pretrial publicity.

Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court made the ruling last week after a hearing.

Meanwhile, Urso has appealed Judge Logan’s earlier decision to deny him bond and has asked Judge Logan to rule that the blood-alcohol test police gave him is not admissible in court.

Anthony Consoldane, the public defender representing the 49-year-old Urso, filed a motion March 1 asking Judge Logan to move the trial out of Trumbull County to ensure that Urso receives a fair trial.

Consoldane said a change of venue is necessary because of the “volume and content of the media’s coverage of this case.”

In a March 9 filing, Michael Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, said judges in most Ohio courts reject such a motion at this stage of the legal process and allow the defendant to file it again just before trial.

No trial date is set, but a suppression hearing is set for Friday.

That hearing will determine whether the blood-alcohol test Urso took was administered according to state guidelines and whether the results were invalid because six empty beer cans were found inside his vehicle.

Consoldane said Urso drank four 16-ounce beers and two 12-ounce beers while his car was parked at Monty’s Carry Out and Restaurant at state Route 88 and Bazetta Road in Mecca Township, where he was later arrested.

Because the empty beer cans were found in the vehicle, it is “impossible to determine his blood-alcohol at the time he was allegedly driving the automobile,” Consoldane argued.

Atty. Michael A. Partlow of Cleveland also filed an appeal Thursday with the 11th District Court of Appeals of Judge Logan’s denial of bond to Urso.

Urso faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge, which is drunken driving with a specification that he is a repeat offender.

Police arrested Urso at Monty’s after a concerned motorist followed him there and called 911 because he reportedly was driving erratically.

A test measured Urso’s blood-alcohol level at 0.286, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08.