TOLEDO -- Tom Noe appeared in a Toledo courtroom Friday, remaining mute while Judge Thomas Osowik scheduled his trial date on state charges related to millions of dollars missing from a state investment in rare coins. Noe faces 53 counts related to the investment he managed for the state.
August 29th is when Noe has his date with the judge to face those state charges. As Osowik set the trial date, Noe looked on, but he never spoke while his attorney, John Mitchell, argued for a later date.
In arguing for more time, Mitchell said, "We'll still have to look at every document, every piece of paper." He said Noe's lawyers need to look at every item in the prosecution's possession, and that'll take some time. There are about a half million documents the lawyers want to examine, along with the prosecution's witness list.
Judge Osowik said the August date will stand, but pre-trial hearings will continue to check on the progress of the document-sharing process.
Osowik also ordered that Noe attend every hearing in person, with the next one due on March 29th. "We're gonna do whatever we can to speed up the process," Judge Osowik said, "so keep this trial date so people of Lucas County will see we are moving forward with preparations in this case."
In addition to scheduling Noe's court date, other business conducted today included adding two new attorneys to Noe's legal team. Noe also has a July 24th court date for his trial on federal charges for illegally funneling thousands of dollars to President George W. Bush's re-election campaign.
