Murder suspect in Miamisburg seeks DNA evidence

A Miamisburg murder defendant who prosecutor’s say is linked to the killing through DNA is seeking a court order to have a crime lab turn over evidence after it failed to comply with a subpoena, court records show.

The attorney for Chaz Gillilan wants the order for the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory in Dayton to provide the DNA analysis that police say ties the defendant to the deadly home invasion of Noah Kinser, 18.

Gillilan, 31, of Coshocton County, is one of three murder defendants in the Dec. 30, 2018 killing that police have said is drug-related. He faces 20 charges, including six murder counts, and his trial is scheduled to start May 4.

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After the court approved spending $2,500 for the defense to retain a DNA expert witness to review that evidence, attorney Marshall Lachman said on March 6 he issued a subpoena regarding that evidence to Mary Barger at the regional crime lab, according his motion filed last week.

The subpoena sought “certain scientific materials regarding her DNA analysis” by March 16, Lachman’s motion states.

On March 27, Barger called Lachman “advising that she had been out of the office due to the ongoing (COVID-19) public health emergency in Ohio and that she had just received a copy of that subpoena,” according to court records.

“Ms. Barger also advised that she is in need of an actual court order before she can turn the requested materials over,” the filing states.

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Lachman wants Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Skelton to order the evidence forwarded to Forensic Biometrics in Fairborn within 14 days, records show.

Kinser, a Miamisburg High School graduate, was fatally shot in his Miamisburg apartment on North First Street in what was the city’s first homicide since 2011, police said.

Aside from multiple murder counts, Gillilan also faces four felonious assault charges, four robbery, two aggravated burglary and other counts, court records show.

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Also facing murder charges in Kinser’s death is Jason B. Churchill, 32, of Moraine, and Daniel Matthew Simone, 29, of Englewood, records show. All three remain in the Montgomery County Jail, according to its website.

A fourth defendant, Dante English, 38, of Cincinnati, was indicted on arson, tampering with evidence, possession of criminal tools and insurance fraud in connection to the case.

Not guilty pleas have been entered for all four defendants.

Simone’s trial is also set for May 4 and Churchill’s case has been continued, court records show. The trial date for English is May 18.

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