LISBON — Jeno L. Wall, the man sentenced to prison for the rest of his life with no possibility of parole for killing Robert E. “Hubba” Herron on Sept. 9, 2024 in Wellsville, filed an appeal Thursday to challenge his conviction.

Wall’s trial defense attorneys Joe King and Charley Kidder filed the paperwork with the Seventh District Court of Appeals and requested appellate counsel be appointed to handle the appeal.

Assignments of error noted for consideration included: the defendant’s conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence; the trial court erred when it denied the defense motion for acquittal; the trial court erred in overruling the defense motion to suppress a photo lineup; and there was not a legal sufficiency of the evidence.

Wall, 35, formerly of Steubenville, claimed his innocence throughout the trial process, even after the jury found him guilty of all the charges for aggravated murder, murder, firearm specifications and intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case.

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton followed the recommendation of the prosecution and sentenced Wall to life in prison without the possibility of parole for aggravated murder (and the merged murder count), an additional mandatory three years for the firearm specification and an additional three years for intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case, a third-degree felony.

He was also designated a violent offender and received credit for 272 days served in jail.

He had been accused of hitting and shooting Herron, 30, of East Liverpool, to death at a property on 10th Street in Wellsville. Two eyewitnesses testified to being there when he hit him and fired a single gunshot. The intimidation charge stemmed from Wall threatening one of the eyewitnesses, James R. “Jimmy” Howell.

Bickerton and Wall butted heads several times during the course of the jury trial last month. Wall interrupted testimony of Wellsville Police Patrolman Caden Weekley with an outburst and also interrupted when Wellsville Police Lt. Marsha Eisenhart took the stand.

During his own testimony, he kept talking over county Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones as she attempted to ask him questions, even refusing to answer and at one point asking one of his defense attorneys, Joe King, for help. Throughout, he kept saying he didn’t kill anybody and that he was no murderer.

During sentencing, he was a little more subdued.

Bickerton advised Wall of his right to file an appeal and noted that she knew he had stated his innocence and didn’t have to address the court, but he stood up and spoke briefly, saying he understood they were all just doing their jobs.

“I’m just saying I didn’t do it,” Wall said.

Brandon R. Kessler, 42, Wellsville was one of the eyewitnesses and will face sentencing at 1 p.m. Nov. 21 for charges of obstructing justice and tampering with evidence, both third-degree felonies, for not telling investigators everything he knew about what happened. He told them from the beginning that Wall was the shooter, after learning his name, but delayed telling them that he himself was told to dispose of the murder weapon and threw the gun in the Ohio River.

As part of the plea agreement, he had to testify in Wall’s trial, which he did. According to the proposed felony plea agreement, the recommended sentence for Kessler will be five years in prison.

mgreier@mojonews.com