Kehoe Loses Lawyer Conflict Of Interest Cited For Older Brother In Shootouts

Chevie Kehoe, the Colville, Wash., fugitive who allegedly fired at police officers in a shootout that was captured on videotape, will not get the lawyer he wanted.

During a brief hearing Friday in Clinton County Common Pleas Court, Dayton attorney Earl Moore said that he might have a conflict on interest in representing Kehoe.

Kehoe is being held on $20 million bond on charges from a Feb. 15 shootout with police near Wilmington. It was caught on videotape by a police cruiser’s dashboard camera and later broadcast around the country.

Kehoe said he wanted to hire Moore after having two public defenders appointed to represent him.

But Moore said he would have a potential conflict because he also represented Kehoe’s former cellmate, Cameron Hawkins of Xenia.

Prosecutors may call Hawkins to testify about any statements Kehoe might have made to him in jail. Hawkins has offered to testify against Kehoe.

Moore recommended that Kehoe keep the public defenders.

Rick Moyer, assistant county prosecutor, said Kehoe read a brief statement to the court after Moore withdrew from the case.

“He voiced his care for his family and disappointment in the legal system,” Moyer said. “He said the Clinton County sheriff’s office has treated him with respect and said he was upset with the prosecutor’s office because his bond is too high.”

Kehoe, 24, and his brother Cheyne Kehoe, 21, also of Colville, are accused of shooting at officers in two separate shootouts after they were stopped near Wilmington. No officer was injured.

Cheyne Kehoe is fighting extradition and had been in custody in Washington. On Wednesday, federal marshals brought him to Little Rock, Ark., where he and his brother are being investigated in the slayings of an Arkansas gun dealer, his wife and their 8-year-old daughter.