Court Report: Athens men apply for judicial review

An Athens man was scheduled for a judicial review hearing this Wednesday in the Athens Court of Common Pleas after an arrest that took place in June of 2012.Brett Walls was convicted in April after being found in possession of heroin and was charged with one count of possession and one count for aggravated possession of drugs. Walls was put in community control; however, he was arrested the next year for attempted burglary in October 2013.Due to Wall’s violation of his community control, formerly known as probation, he was sentenced to a total of four years in prison, two years for his first offense in 2012 and two for his offense in 2013. Wall was sent to the Chillicothe Correctional Institute in April of this year.With judicial review, an offender can apply for early release after serving a certain amount of days in prison depending on certain requirements. If someone is serving two years or more, but less than five years, they can file for early release after serving 180 days of their original sentence.According to court documents, pending the results of Walls’ hearing Wednesday and a favorable Institutional Summary Report, the state of Ohio is expected to accept his request.In a similar case this week, another Athens man is expected to make his case for judicial release this Thursday in a second stage hearing.David Smith was arrested in August of 2010 after breaking into the Albany Marathon and stealing 124 cartons of cigarettes. He was also found in possession of criminal tools, a hammer, which is a fifth degree felony.Smith was sentenced to 23 months in prison with the possibility of release after 120 days served. Smith filed for release in June of 2013. According to the state’s wishes, Smith could have been released May 1, 2013.Before his release, Smith was found guilty in connection with another case of tampering with evidence, adding an additional prison sentence. The state’s original rulings on Smith’s release were forced to change after the results of Smith’s most recent case.Smith committed his most recent crime in Ross County, and the state claims to not have knowledge of the pending case the defendant had and, because of this, denied his appeal for early release.Also this week, an Athens women faces arraignment this Wednesday in the Athens Court of Common Pleas after being found in connection with a theft that occurred last week, Oct. 24, 2014.Stacy Bond was arrested after stealing a car belonging to someone deemed a “protected class,” which means it could be someone of an elderly age, affected by a disability or is a service member or the spouse of an active duty service member. All of those categories could result in the impaired judgment of the victim, in this case an elderly person.Bond was also arrested on a charge of failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer. Bond attempted to flee from officers in the car she had taken earlier.