As a result, the evidence gathered in the wiretaps will remain secret, at least temporarily.
“The court finds that these documents are not public records. They are confidential law enforcement records,” Oda said during the hearing. ““I am going to seal these documents, at least at this point.”
Perone, 68, is accused of murdering Richard “Dick” Woods, 41, of Dublin, Ohio, on Oct. 8. 1992, at Just Living Rooms, Perone’s furniture business in Lebanon.
His lawyers also want to exclude new DNA tests that could be a major break in the case. This issue will be decided after another hearing leading up to the two-week trial.
In 1992, Perone and his wife told officials they last saw Woods between 6:30 and 7 p.m. on the day Woods was killed. Both denied any involvement in Woods’ death.
Woods’ Lexus was found by a Pinkerton agent the next day off Interstate 71, but his body, with gunshot wounds to the head, was not found until Nov. 9, 1992, in a nearby ravine.
The case was investigated by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and federal agents, and later taken up by a cold-case team.
In 2014, the sheriff’s office issued a press release indicating investigators were returning to the spot on Middleboro Road in Washington Twp., Warren County, where the body was found.
Perone owned the furniture store in the Colony Square shopping center in Lebanon, but was living in Desert Hills, Ariz., at the time of his arrest last year.
On Wednesday, lawyer Rob Kaufman argued Perone, a decorated war veteran with no prior criminal record, should be allowed to sit unshackled during the trial. He noted Perone’s age and said he still had an injury sustained from shackles worn during an earlier court appearance.
But prosecutors and a sheriff’s deputy in charge of prisoner security said Perone should be fully restrained because he was a high-risk inmate.
Kaufman also worked to connect Sean Patrick Goble, a serial murderer in prison in Tennessee, with the case, questioning a deputy about whether one of Goble’s victims was found near where Woods’ body was found.
Woods’ wife listened from the gallery and expressed confidence in the prosecution afterward.
“I wanted to experience and see what was going on,” Susan Schneier said. “I’m not worried.”
About the Author
