The most recent update from the chief judge for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland states that criminal trials can resume as early as Sept. 21, including cases in the U.S. District Court in Youngstown.

It means a possible Sept. 28 trial for New Middletown man James P. Reardon set for Sept. 28 potentially could go forward. Reardon, 21, is accused of making threats against the Jewish Community Center in Youngstown on July 11, 2019.

However, Reardon’s attorney filed a new motion Wednesday asking that Reardon’s final pretrial hearing set for Sept. 17 and trial date be pushed back.

U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Gaughan issued her most recent order Aug. 25, stating a criminal trial can be held in any of the courthouses in the Northern District of Ohio as long as the “judge, asssistant U.S. attorney, defendant and defendant’s counsel … consent on the record to the commencement of the … trial.”

If a participant does not consent to the trial, it must be for COVID-19-related reasons, the judge noted.

No trial lasting longer than a week will be held, the order states.

Jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic “present unique challenges” because of jury selection, which “often consists of many individuals in the categories identified by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention as being particularly at risk,” Gaughan stated in the order.

“Jury trials particularly present a challenge to attorneys who must continuously communicate with clients during the course of a trial,” the order noted.

REARDON CASE

Reardon is charged with posting a video on the social media site Instagram in which he is seen holding a rifle in multiple firing positions — with audio of gunshots and sound effects of sirens and people screaming in the background.

The video is captioned: “the police have identified the shooter of the Youngstown Jewish Family Community Center as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon” — Seamus being a Gaelic version of the name James.

Reardon’s attorney, Ross T. Smith, advised Judge Gaughan, who is presiding over Reardon’s case, that Smith “is not comfortable with participating in said proceedings at the present time.”

He added that he and federal attorneys “continue to engage in plea negotiations to attempt a resolution prior to trial,” and the attorneys also are contining to discuss issues related to evidence.

Among them are the parties’ ability to review certain evidence because of “technology issues.”

Smith advised the judge that assistant U.S. Attorney David Toepfer, who is prosecuting the case, “has no objection or opposition” to pushing back the pretrial and trial dates.

On July 1, Gaughan denied Reardon’s requeest to be released from detention. Reardon said one reason he should be released is that he had already been locked up for 314 days.

erunyan@tribtoday.com