Lawyers ask for dismissal of theft case

Attorneys for co-defendants accused of theft are asking that the cases be dismissed because of speedy trial stipulations.

James Golden, 26, and Joseph Stoll, 27, both of York, have been accused of stealing property from Pioneer Hi-Bred International in York County.

In 2010, a utility trailer was found to be missing from the Pioneer Seed location along Highway 34.

Seward County investigators told an individual at Pioneer that they had recovered the trailer and asked if the company was familiar with the two suspects.

Pioneer officials said neither was employed by the company and that they had no permission to take the trailer.

The Seward County Sheriff's Department received information that the stolen trailer was at a specific location in the rural area of that county.

Upon locating the stolen trailer, they allegedly contacted Golden who they said admitted to deputies in a written statement that he and Stoll had taken the trailer.

The trailer was confirmed to be the one taken from Pioneer.

Both men appeared in York County District Court this past week.

Stoll's attorney, Steve Fillman, asked Judge Jeffre Cheuvront to dismiss the case, "based on the speedy trial timeline. This is a very simple dismissal. We're 2 ? years out on this case, so it's a no-brainer to dismiss."

Special prosecutor, Jennifer Ladman, said she disagreed with dismissal.

Judge Cheuvvront said Judge Alan Gless intended to rule on a motion to suppress and other requests, refusing to just dismiss the charges.

"It's clear that this case is months behind," Fillman continued. "So it's like a double violation because it's been over six months since we filed on the issue of speedy trial."

Judge Gless has been on temporary medical leave since December, 2011.

York County Public Defender Nancy Waldron also noted that when these cases started, Tim Sieh was the county attorney and Sam Bethune was the public defender.

Since then, there's been two changes for the county attorney position and one change in the public defender office. She also noted that the current county attorney could not prosecute the case because of conflicts of interest, so a special prosecutor had to be appointed.

"We are asking that this case be dismissed," Waldron said, mirroring Fillman.

Judge Cheuvvront did not rule in the matter.

By The York News-Times

Source: The York News-Times