In July 2004 Dr. John Martin Adams was found guilty by a Scioto County Common Pleas Court Jury for the kidnapping of two local females and the murder of Portsmouth Community Development Director Bob Burns. Within the last four months the Ohio 4th District Court of Appeals has decided that because of problems with the trial transcript that it is more than likely that Adams can not get a fair appeal unless he is granted a new trial where an accurate transcript of witness testimony can be completed. Here is what the 4th District Court of Appeals sent back to Judge Howard Harcha III concerning the problems with the trial transcript from Adams criminal case:
10/23/06 CT ORDER JUDGMENT ENTRY: COURT OF APPEALS CASE 04-CA-2959 & 05-CA-2986 THIS COURT OVER THE PAST 2 YRS HAS GRANTED NUMEROUS EXTENSIONS OF TIME FOR FILING & SUPPLEMENTING THE RECORD IN THIS CASE. DURING THAT PERIOD, THE COURT REPORTER HAS SUBMITTED 4 DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE TRIAL TRANSCRIPT, NONE OF WHICH ARE THE SAME, & SOME OF WHICH ARE NOT IN THE COURT FILE. MOREOVER, APPELLANT HAS REPEATEDLY CLAIMED THAT PORTIONS OF THE RECORD ARE MISSING, & THAT WHEN CORRECTIONS HAVE BEEN MADE THE RECORD WAS STILL INCOMPLETE OR OTHER RELEVANT MATERIAL WAS THEN EXCLUDED. AFTER REVIEWING THE RECORD AT THIS JUNCTURE IS SO CONFUSING WE CANNOT CONFIDENTLY SAY THAT THE RECORD IS COMPLETE OR ACCURATE AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS. THEREFORE, UPON CONSIDERATION, WE SUA SPONTE REMAND THIS MATTER TO THE TRIAL COURT FOR PURPOSES OF CONDUCTING A MANDATORY EVIDENTIARY HEARING CONSISTENT WITH APP.R.9(E) TO REMENDY THE DISCREPANCIES IN THE RECORD. IF THE CONTENTS OF THE RECORD ON APPEAL CANNOT BE ACCURATELY ASCERTAINED, &/OR THE TRIAL COURT DOES NOT RECTIFY ANY DISPUTES, A NEW TRIAL MAY BE THE ONLY WANT TO ENSURE THAT APPELLANT CAN FAIRLY & ADEQUATELY ARGUE HIS POSITION ON APPEAL. THIS COURT HEREIN CANCELS THE ORAL ARGUMENT SET FOR 10/26/06, IN THIS CASE AT THE SCIOTO COUNTY COURTHOUSE. CASE REMANDED W/INSTRUCTIONS. IT IS SO ORDERED.
As you can see, the Justices at the Court of Appeals believe that someone is messing around with the transcript of the Adams trial. Four different sets of transcripts have gone before the Court of Appeals and the Justices claim that all four are different. How can this be? The Justices are trying to be fair to Adams and believe that unless they grant a new trial or the record can somehow be cleared up then Adams civil rights will be violated.
According to the records in the Adams case file at the Scioto County Common Pleas Court Clerks Office, Adams was brought down for a hearing the first week of January 2007 and the hearing record for that day has been sealed so nobody can look at it. A motion was then filed back to the 4th District Court of Appeals by Adams attorney, James Banks of Dublin, Ohio after that hearing was completed and the record sealed seeking the new trial. Based on the filing of that motion it is clear that Attorney Banks believes that the trial transcript can not be fixed for use for Adam’s appeal.
The current Scioto County Prosecutor Mark Kuhn did not handle the first trial for Adams. This could present a big problem for the State of Ohio if Adams is granted a new trial. Can all the witnesses be found at this late date? Will Attorney Banks be able to avoid pitfalls made in the first trial for his client? At the end of the first trial two jurors told me that they did not believe the testimony of the only eyewitness in the case, Mrs. Burns. Now that Attorney Banks has her testimony will he be able to bring even more doubt the second time around? The jurors I talked with stated that they believed if Adams had testified on his own behalf and rebutted the testimony of Mrs. Burns that there was a possibility that the murder conviction would not have occurred. Adams may have only been convicted of kidnapping two other females he took with him to Kentucky right after the shooting.
The murder of Burns appears to be linked to a lawsuit filed against Adams by Bob Burns against Adams for something that happened during the treatment of Mrs. Burns by Adams. Adams was a psychiatrist employed by Marshall University. Mrs. Burns was a patient of Adams and the two eventually had some type of physical relationship that grew out of the patient/doctor relationship.
It is unclear when Adams will get his new trial but sources at the Scioto County Courthouse told me if the new trial is granted that it will probably begin in the late summer or early fall of this year.
Adams is currently confined at the Pickaway Correctional Institute in Orient, Ohio where he is serving a 15 year to life sentence. Adams is not due to come up for parole until May of 2029.
Stay tuned for more on this story as it unfolds.
John Welton (DD)
