Forgotten CD nearly ends Pasco murder trial before it even starts

The trial for a man charged with killing a Pasco school bus driver four years ago nearly ended with charges being thrown out Wednesday because of a CD-ROM sitting unnoticed for years in a pile of documents.

The Compact Disc was filled with Joshua Davis’ writing that had been downloaded from his computer after the attack. Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said it was mixed in with documents from another case and discovered last week when the other case was being closed.

Officials didn’t discuss in court the contents of the writing but said it’s enough information to fill 1.6 million Word documents.

Davis, now 38, is accused of first-degree murder for stabbing Richard “Dick” Lenhart, 72, on a school bus loaded with children on Sept. 24, 2021.

Defense attorneys argue Davis was not legally sane at the time of the attack, and they said Wednesday that the CD could contain evidence that might show that. Prosecutors gave it to them on Oct. 28 – the day they were selecting a jury.

Judge Jackie Shea Brown agreed that was a problem, saying she came close to dismissing the case because of the four-year delay in handing over the evidence.

Shea Brown’s decision came at the end of a morning when defense attorneys already had argued that the case should be dismissed because prosecutors failed to give them other evidence in the case.

Defense attorney Sheri Oertel said they were given information on new witness interviews even after a jury was picked. She noted that it isn’t the defense attorney’s job to find the evidence.

“When you call ready, you should know where the witnesses are … and you should know what their anticipated testimony is,” Oertel said.

Sant argued while the interviews contain new information, but none of them were with new witnesses. They were talking with them in preparation for trial, and prosecutors were turning over what they learned as soon as possible.

“The biggest concern that the state has here is that this is not new discovery,” he said. “If we were relying on the information in these reports for a majority of these witnesses, there’s going to be differences.”

While Shea Brown allowed the trial to move forward, she told Sant that he should have talked to the witnesses he planned to call before saying he was ready to have a trial. She eliminated two witnesses and limited the possible testimony of a number of others.

“The idea that people are ready for trial means to this court that you have what you need to go to trial,” she scolded. “No trial dates should be set, in this court’s humble opinion, until you know exactly what folks are going to say.”

The attorneys are expected to present opening statements in the trial on Thursday. Murder at Longfellow school

It’s been four years since Davis stepped onto a school bus and asked Lenhart if he was heading to Road 100. When Lenhart said he wasn’t, Davis began to walk away, and then turned back and stabbed him.

Davis hopped off the moving bus, and threw the knife to the ground. He allegedly told a witness that he was the assailant before started walking toward his truck.

He didn’t leave, however, and police found him at the scene.

Since his arrest, many of the questions in the case have focused on whether Davis understood what he was doing or if it was wrong.

Two forensic psychologists are expected to testify about Davis’ mental state. State psychologist Richard Yocum has previously said that Davis behaved at the scene like he knew what he was doing.

Defense expert Alexander Patterson is expected to testify that Davis has a lengthy history of mental illness. The mental condition left an otherwise healthy man in debilitating pain, and unable to understand the difference between wrong and right, said the defense.