Inman Trial Could Move To Franklin County

One day after a judge decided that a man could not receive a fair trial in his own county, 10TV News learned that the trial could be moved to Columbus.

Hocking County Common Pleas Judge John Wallace said that William Inman Sr., who is accused of being the mastermind behind his daughter-in-law's death, could not receive a fair trial in Hocking County.

Inman is accused in the death of Summer Inman in March 2011. Her body was found in an Athens County septic tank.  William Inman's son, William Inman Jr., and wife, Sandra Inman, also were accused in Summer Inman's death.  William Inman Jr. was sentenced to life in prison earlier this summer, and Inman's wife, Sandra Inman, took a plea deal and will spend 15 years to life in prison.

Dozens of potential jurors were interviewed as William Inman watched earlier this week.

"In this sort of case, you want a juror who either doesn't really know much about the case or a juror who can put aside what they do know and just exclusively focus on the evidence," said Judge Wallace.

Wallace said that only six people made the cut, so he declared a mistrial.

Bill Brown was one of the jurors who was selected for the trial.

"Leading up to it, with the other two found guilty, I just thought that the guy was probably guilty, but once we went to court, I was willing to take everything away and consider him not guilty," Brown said.

Wallace said that the decision about where to move the trial would be up to him.

"Ultimately, the decision would be with me," Wallace said. "I mentioned that Franklin County might be a good place."

Wallace said that he would take suggestions from both the prosecutor as well as the defense attorney as to where they suggest the case should be tried.

According to Wallace, a new location will be set by mid-September.

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