LISBON — A judge recently issued her written ruling for denying a defense challenge to the photo and photo lineup used to identify accused killer Jeno Wall, saying “the court does not find the identification to be unreliable.”

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton wrote that she applied several factors, including the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness’s degree of attention, the accuracy of the witness’s prior description of the criminal and the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the confrontation and the length of time.

“The witness, in this case, observed the defendant shoot the victim in the back. When he was questioned by the Wellsville Police Department, he knew who the shooter was, just not his name. He had previously met the defendant, had a conversation with him, and the defendant had been at the witness’s home prior to the shooting,” Bickerton wrote.

Defense attorneys Charley Kidder and Joe King had claimed that Wellsville Police Lt. Marsha Eisenhart showed a photo of the defendant to the witness just prior to his review of the photo lineup, “which by its nature resulted in such unfairness that it infringed the defendant’s right to due process of law.”

They had requested the court bar in-court and out-of-court identification of Wall during his upcoming jury trial, which remains set for 9 a.m. Sept. 23.

Bickerton, though, pointed out that the witness gave Eisenhart a description of the person he witnessed shoot the victim, Robert E. Herron, and he was familiar with the person but could not recall his name. Eisenhart used her cell phone to show the witness a photo of the defendant and he responded “without hesitation” that the defendant was the shooter. In the photo lineup later showed to the witness, a different photo of Wall was used and the witness still identified him.

Charges against Wall, 35, Steubenville, include unclassified felonies of aggravated murder and murder and third-degree felony intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case, along with firearm specifications for allegedly using a firearm to cause Robert E. Herron’s death on Sept. 9, 2024 in Wellsville. Herron was 30 years old. If convicted, Wall could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Police had responded to a call of shots fired on Tenth Street and found Herron fatally wounded behind a residential garage.

Wall remains jailed under a $1 million cash or surety bond.

mgreier@mojonews.com