State v. Thomas

{¶ 1} Attorney Jonathan G. Stotzer — on behalf of the defendant — has filed an affidavit with the Clerk of this court under R.C. 2701.03, seeking the disqualification of Judge Steve C. Shuff from acting in any further proceedings in case No. 04-CR-215 in the Court of Common Pleas of Seneca County.

{¶ 2} Affiant alleges that the judge is a cousin of defendant Thomas’s co-defendant, Jacquelyn Shuff. The prosecuting attorney evidently intends to call Shuff as a witness at Thomas’s upcoming trial before Judge Shuff, and that scenario would place the judge in a situation in which his fairness and…