LISBON –Retired Tuscarawas Common Pleas Court Judge Edward E. O’Farrell has been assigned to handle the defense motion to suppress filed in the William P. Long Jr. aggravated murder case.

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton, who’s overseeing the overall case, requested a visiting judge for the motion to suppress since she’s the judge who issued the search warrants in question.

A new hearing date remains set at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The jury trial remains set for 9 a.m. Nov. 18, with a final status hearing set for 9 a.m. Nov. 3.

Long’s hired defense team of David Betras and Frank Cassese filed a motion last week to suppress a lengthy list of evidence in the aggravated murder case against him, claiming the search of his property was unconstitutional and the evidence should be thrown out.

The list of evidence sought to be suppressed includes: the property at 807 N. Market St., Lisbon where Long had been residing and any vehicles located there; a 2019 Chevy truck; a 2005 Chevy pickup; an Apple iPhone; Verizon wireless records associated with two separate phone numbers; a Life360 account for Long; iCloud accounts for various email addresses; iCloud accounts for a particular phone number or account belonging to Long; Amazon blink cameras; documents associated with an Allstate Insurance Company policy and Google accounts located within a certain radius of specific coordinates on Nov. 29, 2023 from 5:38 p.m. to 5:48 p.m.

Betras wrote that “the defendant’s property was unconstitutionally searched as Detective Lt. Caleb Wycoff’s search warrant affidavit lacks probable cause due to the affidavit lacking the requisite nexus between the place to be searched and the evidence sought.”

Long, 51, North Market Street, Lisbon stands accused of shooting his ex-wife to death in 2023 and could face a possible penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the aggravated murder charge. He remains jailed under a $1.5 million cash or surety bond after being charged in May 2024 with aggravated murder and murder, both unclassified felonies, along with first-degree felony discharging a firearm upon a roadway, and firearm specifications for using a gun for each count, in the death of 50-year-old Michelle A. Long on Nov. 29, 2023 outside her Carey Road home in Butler Township.

At the time of her murder, Michelle A. Long was the Leetonia High School math/STEM/industry teacher, junior high robotics coach and junior high track coach. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The state is represented by county Assistant Prosecutors Alec Beech and Jennifer Bonish.

mgreier@mojonews.com