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Gramza did not specify during Ashford’s minute-long appearance before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara Gorman which statements he will target, and he declined to elaborate afterward.
“We’ll go forward on the suppression motion, (which) may indeed result in dismissed charges, if it goes our way,” Gramza said.
Gorman continued the case against the 18-year-old Ashford until Sept. 26, when Gramza said the motion to suppress is likely to be discussed.
Not guilty pleas have been entered for Ashford on 10 counts, which range from discharging a firearm over a public roadway, impersonating a peace officer and several armed robbery charges. The vast majority of counts in his July 20 indictment include firearm specifications.
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“We’re going to fight the case as we normally would,” Gramza said. “That would be based on the evidence that they have and the evidence that we have.“
Ashford, who court officials have said has no criminal record, is being tried on adult charges, although he was 17 and a Dunbar High School student at the time of his arrest. He is being held in juvenile detention of a $500,000 bond.
Authorities said Ashford robbed a Byers Road Shell station in the mid-afternoon on Feb. 5 and sought to flee by trying to carjack vehicles near the interstate. Officer James Swearingen wounded the teen in the arm after officials said Ashford failed to comply with his orders to drop a gun, records show.
A grand jury later cleared Swearingen of any wrongdoing, saying he acted lawfully.
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At the Miamisburg scene, a woman who identified herself as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent initially said in a 911 call that it appeared a police officer had been shot, as Ashford claimed to be an undercover FBI agent, records show.
Also responding were Miamisburg police, the Miami Valley Fire District and two Jackson Twp. Police Department members, who said they happened to be in area en route to Centerville.
Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi, who transferred the case to adult court, said the scene near the Dayton Mall and one of the metropolitan area’s busiest interchanges put “potentially hundreds of people” at risk.
-MORE COVERAGE ON THIS ISSUE:
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