Suppression hearing scheduled for today

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

A hearing on an attempt to suppress evidence in an upcoming murder trial will be held today.

The hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court, was requested by attorney Zachary Maisch, who is representing Ryan Houser, 38, of Celina, formerly of Rockford. Houser is facing four charges – aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony; possessing a weapon under disability, a third degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third degree felony. All four charges are connected to the September, 2023 death of Houser’s girlfriend, Barbara Ganger, of Van Wert.

Maisch is seeking to suppress multiple statements solicited from Houser by law enforcement officers on seven different occasions during the investigation. He also claims Houser was never given a Miranda warning during interviews with law enforcement officers, including once when Houser was jailed in lieu of bond.

“All of the above interviews were conducted under circumstances of extreme law enforcement intimidation and in a manner in which no person would have felt free to leave,” Maisch wrote in the motion. “At no point in time did law enforcement ever give a Miranda warning to the defendant. As such, all of the above outlined statements were obtained in violation of the defendant’s rights under the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Ohio.”

Maisch also wants to visually inspect a shell casing found at the scene of the murder and two bullets that were recovered during Ganger’s autopsy in order to possibly determine the caliber. Maisch claims no prosecution reports indicate what the caliber may be.

Houser is accused of shooting and killing Ganger, 43, at Van Wert West Apartments in early September. Her body was discovered on September 4, 2023, after the Van Wert Police Department conducted a welfare check. A police report indicated she had been shot twice, once in the stomach area and once in the head.

Houser was arrested and jailed in Mercer County on September 8 on unrelated charges of having a weapon under disability and a probation/parole violation. He was indicted by a Van Wert County grand jury November 2, and pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing held several days later. Bond was set at $1 million and a request made in November to modify his bond was denied by Van Wert County Common Pleas Court Judge Martin Burchfield.

Houser was scheduled to stand trial the week of April 15, but a request to change legal counsel was granted and the trial was delayed. A new trial date has not been set.