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Bail denied in bomb plot case
07/01/2006
Madison Township pair plead not guilty
A judge denied bail Friday for the Madison Township couple accused of plotting to use a bomb against four Lake County officials.
Joseph A. Sands, 40, and Dawn Holin, 34, asked Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene A. Lucci to set them free until their trials on 14 state felony charges, including four counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.
The duo pleaded not guilty Friday to charges accusing
them of obtaining materials needed to make a pipe bomb
to kill Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A.
Cicconetti, the late North Perry Village Mayor Thomas H. Williams, North Perry Police Chief Denise Mercsak and the village's police prosecutor, Joseph M. Gurley.
"They have a constitutional right to be out on bail," said Sands' attorney, David Davies. "These people are presumed to be innocent at this point. I don't think it's been shown that these people are a risk to the community."
But Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Mark Bartolotta successfully argued the suspects are indeed a danger to the community.
"The (confidential police) informant has been threatened on more than one occasion," Bartolotta said. "He could be at risk if either one of them got off on bond."
However, Terry Gilbert, Holin's attorney, told Lucci extensive media publicity of the case is no reason to deny the suspects their freedom.
"I've never had a case - other than a capital case - when a prosecutor attempted to deny bail," he said. "We have a 34-year-old mother - three children - who has raised these kids. She owns her own home, which has been paid off."
Gilbert added that Holin's only past criminal history involved property crimes dating back more than 10 years ago.
"It's just as likely she was an unwitting participant in this so-called alleged plot," the attorney said.
The defense attorneys claimed Madison Township Detective Tim Doyle - the prosecution's one witness who was called to the stand Friday - failed to prove there was a conspiracy against the public officials.
Doyle testified that an informant approached police in April that Sands was plotting to get revenge on the four after he was convicted of tax evasion. That case involved his auto shop business, J&B Performance in North Perry Village.
The detective was asked questions on the witness stand about the informant's secret taped conversations he claimed were with Sands.
"Joe expressed his desires to make a pipe bomb and blow up the mayor's house," Doyle said. "Joe made reference to wanting to kill Tom Williams. They wanted to do it at 2 in the morning. He said if there were any kids involved, they would just be victims of circumstance."
But under cross-examination, Doyle admitted the informant has a somewhat lengthy criminal record and has a case pending in Lake County Common Pleas Court.
In addition, none of the items used in the case as evidence that were found in Sands' home - including smokeless gunpowder - is illegal, Davies said, adding that Sands was an avid gun collector.
Sands told police some of the materials were to be used to stuff in holes to get rid of "varmints" at his home.
"Other than these taped conversations," the defense attorney said, "do you have any evidence from anybody else that there was a real plot to cause harm to Judge Cicconetti, Chief Mercsak, Mayor Williams and Joseph Gurley?"
The defense also called two witnesses to the stand to defend the couple's characters.
Former Kirtland resident Vicky Parker, Sands' sister, testified that her brother had dated Holin for four years, and that she thought highly of his girlfriend's parenting skills of her children, ages 5, 9 and 11.
"I've never seen anything but good things when she's around the children," Parker said.
Mentor resident Robert Kaleal Jr. said Sands is his wife's cousin, and that he doesn't believe Sands would be a flight risk.
"When he says he'll do something, he does it," Kaleal said.
As Holin and Sands remain in Lake County Jail without bond, they face more charges in federal court. Their trial in U.S. District Court in Cleveland is tentatively scheduled for July 10.
Their state case has not yet been assigned to a judge.
Williams died Wednesday of sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 58.
The other three alleged targets did not attend the hearing.
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Steve Faircloth
A Way Out Bail Bonds
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