On April 3, Grubb, who’s charged with first-degree felonies in separate cases — aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit murder — told the judge his mom was going to hire an attorney and wanted to drop defense attorney Arica Underwood. That hasn’t happened, and on Wednesday, one of the four motions Grubb filed on his own behalf was to have McElfresh appoint an attorney.
He also wanted the court to allocate money so he could hire a private investigator “for the collection of additional evidence, verification of witness statements, and identification of potential discrepancies in the prosecution’s case.”
“In the state of Ohio, we don’t have hybrid representation status, in other words, you can’t represent yourself the same time as your attorney,” said the judge.
Grubb faces two first-degree felony charges. The first is an aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon that was allegedly committed on Nov. 9, 2024, and arrested in mid-December, according to court and jail records.
The second is conspiracy to commit murder sometime between Christmas Eve and Jan. 3, allegedly contacting someone who was a confidential informant to kill a witness in the aggravated burglary charge. In exchange, the CI would receive $100 upfront in his jail commissary account — which prosecutors said had occurred — and the weapon to use when he got out and $2,500 when the job was done, according to court records.
Grubb said earlier this month that defense attorney Arica Underwood told the McElfresh that he doesn’t feel she has “the best interest in my case.” He requested to represent himself until an attorney can be retained by his mother, but the judge denied that at the April 3 hearing telling Grubb the process to represent oneself is lengthy.
Until a new attorney is in place, Grubb’s attorney of record will continue to be Underwood.
Among the motions filed by Grubb, whose combined bond is $5.1 million, wanted another court-appointed attorney, though he said on April 3 and restated on Thursday, his mom still plans to hire an attorney.
In his pro se motion, he said he didn’t believe she had “the best interest in my case.”
“My current counsel never answers mine or my family’s calls and I rarely hear from her,” he said in his motion. “I am often left in the dark about my cases.”
Grubb has doubts about the confidential informant who told authorities of the alleged plan to kill a witness in the aggravated burglary case. This is part of the basis for his motion challenging the validity of evidence to support the conspiracy to commit murder charge.
He said the evidence in the conspiracy charge “relies heavily” on statements of one person and “there appears to be no independent corroboration” of the informant’s statements.
Additionally, Grubb objects to the joining of the two cases, calling it “improper” as joining puts him “in a position where defending against one charge makes him look guilty of the other.”
McElfresh continued the case, and Grubb will be back in court at 1 p.m. May 1.
About the Author
