"The prosecution has
filed a motion seeking to revoke Joseph A. Buffey’s bond, and Harrison
County Circuit Judge John Lewis Marks Jr. scheduled a hearing on the
motion immediately prior to the defendant’s trial in an alleged
rape/robbery dating to Nov. 30, 2001. Buffey violated bond by
being charged earlier this week with felony fraudulent schemes, Harrison
Assistant Prosecutor James Armstrong has alleged. Clarksburg
Police Lt. Jason Snider has alleged Buffey broke the law by passing a
worthless check worth $1,150.54 on Sept. 26 at the West Pike Street
Kroger. Defense
attorney Isaac Forman told the court Friday that he’s confident Buffey
has defenses to the charge. The check was only made out to Buffey, not
signed by him, Forman noted. The attorney also asked the court to
set aside the check allegation and allow Buffey to be freed pending his
trial so he could assist his attorneys in preparing for what Forman
anticipates to be a complex matter. Marks, noting that he hadn’t
received the motion to revoke bond until Friday morning, then said he
would hear evidence on the request Tuesday morning, when Buffey’s trial
is to begin..........Buffey
had been free on bond, with home incarceration as a condition, since
March 10, when he was permitted to withdraw guilty pleas he entered in
the rape/robbery case in 2002. The state Supreme Court ordered
that Buffey be allowed to withdraw the pleas after finding the state had
violated his rights by not providing him with DNA test results that
were favorable to his case prior to his May 2002 sentencing.........Marks also Friday presided over some eleventh-hour issues between the sides. The
judge ordered the state to turn over to the defense notes,
correspondence, electronic memos and other file materials from DNA
expert Dr. Alan Friedman. That relief had been sought by Buffey’s
lawyers in a recent motion. But defense attorney Allan Karlin
seemed somewhat taken aback when Marks then also ordered that the
defense must turn over all similar documentation from its DNA experts. Romano
also appeared to signal that the state won’t try to make any kind of
DNA link between Buffey and the alleged crimes. Experts have only been
certain that DNA found at the crime scene and in a rape kit could be
attributed to Adam Derek Bowers, 31, of Clarksburg. He was convicted and
sentenced to prison last year in the 2001 attack after Buffey’s lawyers
developed DNA evidence that pointed squarely at Bowers. Marks
also won’t allow testimony from Buffey’s prior counsel in the state’s
case in chief. The judge hasn’t decided yet whether he would permit such
testimony in any rebuttal case by the state. Also, Marks, who
will decide the case instead of a jury at the request of the defense,
said he would permit the attorneys to give an opening statement and closing argument, though the judge also said he’d prefer they didn’t.........Karlin told the court he expected the defense would want to give openings and closings. Romano didn’t signal the state’s intent.........In
the cases that have advanced to circuit court, Buffey is represented by
Forman and Mike Hissam of Bailey Glasser LLP in Charleston, Karlin, of
Allan N. Karlin & Associates in Morgantown, and Nina Morrison and
Barry Scheck of the New York-based Innocence Project. Armstrong and Romano are the only two state attorneys on the case."