LISBON - A judge agreed to unseal the search warrant material he kept under wraps in an alleged meth lab case, ordering the record be made public and copies turned over to the accused defendant's attorney.

Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court made the ruling by granting a motion filed by attorney James Hartford on behalf of his client, Peter Barta II, to open up the file.

Pike was the judge who granted the warrant for a search of Barta's 66-acre property on Sixteen School Road last January. Judge David Tobin is handling the criminal case which resulted after the search. In June, he denied a request by Barta's previous attorney to unseal the record. The prosecution wanted the documents kept secret due to a concern for people named in the documents.

Barta, 36, of 21307 Sixteen School Road, Wellsville, remains held in the Columbiana County jail under $150,000 cash or surety bond. Charges against him, filed through the original indictment and two superseding indictments, include illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, a third-degree felony, a forfeiture specification for two parcels of land measuring 66 acres and 79 acres where his property was located, possession of drugs, a third-degree felony, possession of drugs, a second-degree felony with a forfeiture specification related to his pickup, and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony related to his cell phone.

The indictment alleged he stored chemicals, equipment and materials to make the drug methamphetamine on his property on Jan. 9 and intended to use the land parcels as the site for a meth lab. Documents alleged he possessed the drug methamphetamine, smoking devices, a scale with meth residue, beakers and some chemicals.

One of the drug possession charges and the criminal tools charge stemmed from his arrest in March during a traffic stop in Liverpool Township when county Drug Task Force agents allegedly found meth hidden in a section of his pickup.

A new trial date of March 23 has been scheduled.

In his motion to have the search warrant documents unsealed, Hartford argued "there is little, if anything, left to be kept secret. A conclusory, unsupported claim for continued secrecy serves only to evade proper scrutiny and legitimate challenge..."

He said the defendant has the right to examine the record "...to determine the constitutionality of the issuance of the warrant by the court in question and the subsequent order to seal the record thereof."

He also claimed there were issues over the execution and return of the warrant which he said could result in suppression of the items seized.

The inventory of seized items listed a scale, boxes of Sudafed, muriatic acid, a lithium battery pack, plastic tubing, two beakers, some mail and a mason jar containing an unknown substance.

The affidavit accompanying the request for a search warrant came from a Drug Enforcement Administration agent trained in identifying a clandestine drug lab. According to the affidavit, tips regarding Barta's alleged manufacture of methamphetamine at his residence started in 2005. The agent learned in January 2009 that Barta was shopping at a store in St. Clair Township and watched him buy products used in the manufacture of meth, including muriatic acid, plastic tubing and a lithium battery.

The affidavit also included information from a source who said Barta was cooking meth in his kitchen and the waste material was buried in chicken barns on the property. The source also claimed he purchased the drug Ephedrine from different stores in West Virginia. Ephedrine is another chemical used to manufacture meth.

Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net