LISBON — Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam took under advisement Friday arguments both for and against a defense motion to suppress evidence in the felonious assault case against Joseph Boyer.

A status hearing remains set for 1 p.m. Oct. 15, with the jury trial in the case set for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 28.

Boyer, 52, Ogden Street, East Liverpool, remains jailed under a $100,000 cash or surety bond for felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony, for an alleged knife attack on a woman at the Ogden Street address in East Liverpool on July 7, 2022.

Defense attorney T. Robert Bricker filed the motion to suppress evidence, claiming that police entered the residence uninvited and also said the victim did not give permission to enter or search the home. He argued that police “had no justification to enter the home without a warrant.”

He also wrote that the state would claim an exigent circumstance was created when Boyer allegedly looked out the window. An exigent circumstance is recognized when an officer must act to prevent imminent injury, the destruction of evidence or a felony suspect’s escape.

“The state cannot show an emergency situation existed. Even if Mr. Boyer truly was in flight and attempting to escape it does not justify the warrantless entry. Mr. Boyer was in the unlocked house and the event which appears to trigger the police to enter was him looking out the window. As the officers had the house under their watch Mr. Boyer would have been apprehended upon his actual attempt to leave,” the motion said.

During an evidentiary hearing Friday, county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone, who was accompanied by county Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones, called East Liverpool Police Chief John Lane to the stand to describe the events that day. He learned that the victim was at East Liverpool City Hospital and claimed she had been stabbed in the neck by Boyer.

The chief responded to the house on Ogden, where Capt. Tom Clark and Patrolman Jay Lane had already arrived a few minutes earlier. He said they knocked and weren’t getting a response. While there, the chief said he saw blood on the door leading to the kitchen area. He also saw Boyer, who he was familiar with because of other incidents, stick his head out the window like he was going to climb out. Police had been told that another woman was supposed to be in the house.

When asked his concerns, knowing the circumstances, the chief had concerns about destruction of evidence in the house since the defendant was still in there and concerns about the other person who was supposed to be in the house, noting the blood on the door.

He knocked hard on the door and then police entered, first the chief, followed by his son, Patrolman Jay Lane. They saw Boyer and grabbed him and he was taken to the ground and the other woman was there. He said there was a substantial amount of blood in the living room and was shown a photo, identifying the couch which had blood on it.

Two knives were also found in plain view and alcohol was in plain view.

Yacovone asked if all the information was consistent with what the victim provided to police at the hospital and Chief John Lane said it was.

Bricker questioned the chief about his body camera, which he was wearing at the time, but said the video got deleted. Yacovone objected to questions asking about the department’s policy regarding videos saying it was outside the scope of the motion. Bricker asked again about the policy and the chief explained that after a year, video times out and automatically deletes.

Bricker asked whether it was provided to the prosecutor and the chief wasn’t sure, but assumed that Jay Lane submitted his own body camera footage. Bricker than asked if they tried to secure a warrant and the chief said they had to go in for safety plus to secure the crime scene. He was concerned about the woman who was still inside.

“She could be in there bleeding out and while we’re on the phone with the prosecutor, she could die,” Chief John Lane said.

In a closing statement, Yacovone said there are exceptions that exist in the law when there’s no need for a warrant. He said it’s clear that the victim said the defendant did this to her in the house and that another potential victim was there, plus there was blood on the door and the defendant was still there, creating a concern for the evidence and the other woman. There were exigent circumstances.

“We don’t believe the officers did anything improper in this case,” Yacovone said.

Bricker claimed the crime scene was secure, prompting questions from Washam about how it was secure inside.

“They should have waited to get the warrant,” Bricker said.

The state had planned to seek a videotaped deposition of a key witness who resides out of state, but withdrew the motion.

Boyer previously entered a guilty plea in January 2023, but then a month later filed a motion to withdraw plea, which was denied, then he was sentenced to prison. The appellate court ruled that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the guilty plea to be withdrawn. An attempted murder charge that was part of the original indictment was dismissed by the state over legal issues.