Two decades after Ralph Blaine Smith was sentenced to 67 years in prison for a Lancaster home-invasion, a Fairfield County judge has granted him a new trial, ruling that prosecutors withheld evidence that suggested the crime never occurred.
In a ruling filed Wednesday, Common Pleas Judge Richard E. Berens found that the withheld evidence "was sufficiently material to establish a reasonable probability of a different result, and as such the nondisclosure has undermined the confidence in the verdict and violated Smith's right to due process."
The motion for a new trial, filed by Columbus defense attorney Joe Landusky, focused on evidence suggesting that the crime may have been staged.