Hearing scheduled for man charged in Grube murders

A closure hearing is slated for 3:30 p.m. Monday in Mercer County Juvenile Court on behalf of the man accused in the murders of Robert and Colleen Grube.

Donna Post, the court-appointed attorney for 18-year-old Trevin Sanders of Union City, Ind., filed a motion Wednesday asking that juvenile court hearings in the case be closed to the public.

Post maintains public access to the proceedings could endanger fairness for Sanders, who is currently labeled an alleged delinquent child because he was 17 at the time of the November 2011 murders.

Representatives of various media outlets have filed requests to cover the yet-to-be-scheduled hearing that will determine whether Sanders should be tried as an adult in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.  

Sanders, who faces 27 counts - 26 of them felonies - in connection with the murders of the Fort Recovery father and daughter, remains incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City on unrelated charges of theft and receiving stolen property. No date has been set for his return, which is contingent on the signing of an extradition waiver. If Sanders fails to sign, an extradition hearing would be held in a Randolph County, Ind., court where he was sentenced in October.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Andy Hinders has filed paperwork requesting juvenile court judge Mary Pat Zitter transfer the case and order Sanders to be held at the Mercer County Detention Facility during what is expected to be lengthy court proceedings.

A child must be tried as an adult in certain serious cases such as aggravated murder or murder, when the perpetrator was 16 or 17 at the time and was previously committed to an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility or used a firearm in commission of the alleged crimes. The transfer to adult court would take place if and when the judge determines there is probable cause to believe Sanders committed the offenses for which he is charged.

The step involves presentation of the case to grand jurors for formal indictment.

Bryant L. Rhoades, 22, of Union City, has been indicted on a third-degree felony charge of obstructing justice in connection with the murders. He remains incarcerated at the county jail on a $3.5 million bond subject to 10 percent pending a May 6 pretrial hearing.

The charge stems from a June 4, 2012, interview. He reportedly told detectives a woman had something to do with the Grube deaths and that he met her the night of the murders at Broadway Mobile Home Court in Fort Recovery.

Court paperwork indicates the occupant at that location was a man who had lived there 30 years and had no connection to the Grubes.

William F. Kluge, Rhoades' court-appointed attorney, filed a number of motions on Thursday seeking statements made by the defendant and co-defendant, criminal records of the two as well as any witnesses, various documents including lab or hospital reports, tangible objects and photographs. He also is seeking evidence favorable to the defendant, law enforcement reports and the names and addresses of witnesses.

For the purpose of the requests, Kluge identified "a witness" as any person who has or claims to have knowledge about facts related to the crime or about the credibility of another witness.

The investigation into the murders is continuing.