Is the Claudia Hoerig murder trial in jeopardy of being delayed?

The judge has set it for September 17th, but one of her defense attorneys is no longer working for the public defender's office, so he's recently been replaced with a public defender from Columbus.

There is also a question about whether computer experts are needed or can be hired by the defense at trial.

But a hearing Friday afternoon was to determine whether other evidence should be allowed in the trial or thrown out.

What's being considered is whether numerous weapons, a briefcase and duffle bags found in a Subaru parked in the driveway at the Hoerig's Newton Falls home should be considered as evidence at trial.

The murder victim's younger brother testified he recognized the weapons in the car as his deceased brother's.

Retired Sergeant Ron Lane was the Newton Falls Police Officer who went to check on the well-being of Air Force Major Karl Hoerig back on March 15th of 2007.  Hoerig had not shown up for work that day.

Sergeant Lane testified that no one answered the door and that he had put a call in to dispatch questioning what to do and as he waited, he testified he spotted the items in question in a locked Subaru, in plain view.

"I walked over and looked inside it.  It was locked and I looked inside and I could see in the back seat there were several guns and some kind of duffel bag or something in the bed of the Subaru," Sgt. Lane said.

Sergeant Lane says he called Karl Hoerig's parents after seeing what was in the car because of the problems Claudia and Karl had in the past.

And for the time the younger brother of murder victim Karl Hoerig testified about the day his brother was murdered.

"My older brother called me and he said Karl's dead, and then he told me to go to Karl's house," Paul Hoerig said.

Paul Hoerig says while at his brother's home, after learning of the murder, he too saw guns that belonged to his brother, in a vehicle normally driven by Claudia.

"I thought it was strange that there would be guns sitting basically unsecured in the bed of a vehicle.  It's just not something Karl would do," Paul Hoerig said.

Paul Hoerig said that he grew up shooting guns with his brother and they had a great respect for how they were stored.  He says when they traveled with them in a vehicle they were in a case, and when he spotted these guns in the Subaru they were not in cases.

Judge Andrew Logan has yet to determine whether the evidence will be allowed in or out of the September 17th murder trial.