ANDREW ISAAC GRIFFIN

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan and Andrew Isaac Griffin’s attorney Kate Clark agreed that they believe Griffin’s trial — set to begin on March 2 in Belmont County Common Pleas Court – will take approximately 14 days.

Griffin is accused of the double homicide of his former Salsa Joe’s business partner Thomas Strussion and his wife Angela Strussion at their Trails End Drive home near Belmont in September 2021.

Griffin appeared on Friday afternoon in front of Common Pleas Judge Chris Berhalter, who asked both Flanagan and Clark if they had any issues with the court proceeding with the March 2 trial date.

During a pre-trial hearing this past October, Berhalter released funds for Griffin to hire expert witnesses for his case. On Friday, Berhalter asked Clark to confirm that there was an issue with the expert witnesses receiving the funds. Clark confirmed that there was originally an issue due to the check being sent to the wrong address but she has corrected the issue and the experts have been paid.

Flanagan told Berhalter that the state wishes to have two members of law enforcement, Belmont County detectives Jordan Blumling and Ryan Allar, as representatives at council’s table during the trial. He added that the state also wishes Blumling to be an expert witness for the state.

Clark requested the opportunity to question Blumling about his qualifications before Berhalter rules on allowing him to be an expert witness. The judge agreed.

“I believe the defendant would have a right to question the individual to determine their qualifications, so I’m unable to consider that motion at this time,” Berhalter said.

A hearing was set Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. where Flanagan will be able to present the reasons why he believes Blumling should be an expert witness and Clark will be allowed to cross-examine Blumling.

Berhalter informed the courtroom that Griffin did not file a notice of alibi by the agreed upon time of Nov. 30 and added that he is making a deadline for both parties to have all of their motions to be filed by Jan. 30.

The jury pool selection began on Nov. 14. Five hundred prospective jurors were selected.

“At this time, I’m reporting that approximately 356 of those questionnaires have been completed and returned. However, 47 of them are not completed in their entirety,” Berhalter said. “Additionally, the Clerk of Courts has undertaken efforts to try to find the prospective jurors who were questioned. They have had some success going through auditors records and even dog licenses and those have been reissued to the correct address.”

Berhalter added that he originally set a deadline for the questionnaires to be returned on Dec.12 but has continued it indefinitely due to some of the questionnaires being sent to the wrong addresses.

“We’re in possession of approximately 356 questionnaires. It was my intent to make sure those are copied and distributed to both parties prior to us getting together on Jan. 30, but if the parties feel a need to have them as soon as possible, I will entertain them,” he said.

Flanagan replied that he would respectfully ask for the copies sooner than later with Clark sharing the same sentiment.

“We’re meeting here now on Friday afternoon, so realistically, we will start copying them on Monday,” Berhalter said. “We do have the holiday to deal with, but we will try to complete that before the holiday. I’m not sure that can be done with the amount of copies. We will certainly try. And if we fail, you should have them by the first week in January.”

Flanagan and Clark agreed that would be sufficient.