CLEVELAND, Ohio — The defense is asking for more time, delaying jury selection in the high-profile murder trial of a former Cleveland attorney accused of killing his client in 2013.
Gregory Moore is accused of stabbing Aliza Sherman to death in broad daylight in downtown Cleveland.
Jury selection was to begin Monday morning. But the defense argued several motions, including one to continue the case for more time to prepare.
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The defense also wants the lead prosecutor disqualified, saying, in part, there was an improper meeting with an attorney who previously worked for a firm that represented Moore.
“How in a case of this magnitude, when you have aggravated murder on the table, I’m receiving data and analysis a week, 10 days before a trial, expert reports 4 thousand pages of discovery, it makes it very difficult to defend somebody,” Moore’s defense attorney, Jon Paul Rion said.
The state said there is no impropriety and is ready to go to trial.
Watch previous coverage: Suspect in Aliza Sherman homicide posts $2 million bond
But the judge sent potential jurors home as she weighed several motions.
“We would just like the court to acknowledge they’ve gotten a lot of items, sure, but it’s not what they’re saying; it’s not brand new,” Prosecutor Kevin Filiatraut said.
It was March 24, 2013, when Sherman was killed outside Moore’s office in downtown Cleveland.
According to an unsealed indictment, Moore lured Sherman to his office, but there wasn’t a meeting; rather, it was part of a plan hatched months earlier to kidnap Sherman to avoid a divorce trial he wasn’t ready for.
Prosecutors say Sherman was stabbed more than 10 times by an individual who was either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator. Moore’s defense team denies the charges.
Two of Sherman’s adult children were not expected in the courtroom, as the prosecutor told the judge they couldn’t attend because they are to be called as witnesses.
