Appeals court won't order lawyer to talk

DAYTON, Ohio - An attorney won't be forced to break her silence just yet in a missing-child case, but prosecutors said they aren't giving up their fight.

The Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals on Tuesday said it would not order Attorney Beth Lewis to testify this week to a grand jury probing the 1999 disappearance of Erica Baker.

In a statement, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. said, "We will continue to pursue all legal efforts to have this attorney-witness testify and provide information to the Montgomery County grand jury and to assist other law enforcement agencies in this important, critical and pressing inquiry."

The appeals court's decision comes after the Ohio Supreme Court last week refused to further delay a jail order that has been on hold since late June, when a Montgomery County judge found Ms. Lewis in contempt for refusing to tell a grand jury what a now-deceased client may have shared about Erica's fate.

The 9-year-old vanished while walking her dog in her suburban Kettering neighborhood in February 1999. No trace of Erica has been found.

But the Ohio Supreme Court hasn't yet said whether it will review Ms. Lewis' appeal, which turns on a law that specifies circumstances under which lawyers may - or must - break the promise of confidentiality that they make to their clients.

Robber sentenced for hitting bank again

A man released from federal prison after serving time for a bank robbery was sentenced on Tuesday to five years and 10 months in prison for robbing the same bank a second time.

Hans Westrich, 27, Westwood had been out of prison 33 days when he entered a Springdale bank at 495 E. Kemper Road on Feb. 19, handed the teller a note and received cash, prosecutors said.

Police said they used a description of Mr. Westrich's getaway car to arrest him and recover the cash.

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, who sentenced Mr. Westrich on Tuesday, was the same judge who sentenced him in January 2000 for the first holdup at the Provident Bank branch.

The sentence included three years and 10 months for the latest robbery, plus two years for violating a condition of his release from prison the first time that he not commit another crime.

Mr. Westrich pleaded guilty in June to the latest robbery.

Mr. Westrich could have been sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison and fined $250,000.

Lebanon prosecutor retires after 25 years

LEBANON - James Whitaker, Lebanon city prosecutor for 25 years, retired from the office Tuesday to devote more time to his private law practice.

For now, Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Hicks will take the caseload in Lebanon Municipal Court, which handles misdemeanor cases, some civil matters and early hearings on felony charges.

City Attorney Mark Yurick said he is negotiating with Ms. Hicks to take the part-time job, which pays about $20,000 a year.

Driver hospitalized after hitting pole

SHARONVILLE - A Springdale man is in fair condition at University Hospital after crashing his car at Reading and Sharon roads Monday evening.

Michael E. Donnell, 37, had to be cut from the wreckage and was airlifted to the hospital, Sharonville police said.

Witnesses told police that Mr. Donnell was driving a Chevrolet Corsica north on Reading at Sharon about 8:45 p.m. when the vehicle struck the curb in the left turn lane. He then lost control and hit a light pole.

The collision remains under investigation, but neither alcohol nor drug abuse appeared to be involved, police said.

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