Joshua Blankenship, 43, of Mansfield (right) is seeking a new attorney before his multi-felony trial begins in October. He is represented by attorney Tom Nicholson (left).

BUCYRUS—Joshua Blankenship, 43, of Mansfield, appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court to seek a new attorney.

Blankenship is set to stand trial in a little more than three weeks on drug possession charges, illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention center and tampering with evidence. If convicted of all charges, Blankenship faces more than ten years in prison.

Court-appointed attorney Tom Nicholson told the court that he and his client have different perspectives on the case and that a different attorney might be a better option for Blankenship.

“In many ways, when you get to the heart of it, I’m a little too close to Mr. Blankenship to take an objective view of this case. We used to date girls that were friends. We’d go out in the middle of the night and chum around and do things with these two girls,” Nicholson said.

Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold abruptly interrupted Nicholson saying, “You don’t have to give me details.”

Leuthold said that while he understands that clients and attorneys can find themselves not agreeing on how a case should be handled, this case is close to a trial date raising speedy trial issues and concerns as to whether a new attorney can be ready for trial by October 21st. So far, Blankenship has not signed a speedy trial waiver.

“I want you to have an attorney you are comfortable with due to the seriousness of the charges. I have to make sure you have an attorney that is prepared for trial,” Leuthold said.

Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler told the court that there had been no negotiation in the cases. Hoovler plans to try one case after the next case rather than join the cases.

In order to be fair to Blankenship, Leuthold said his staff would begin to contact other court-appointed attorneys qualified to handle his case. Nicholson will remain Blankenship’s attorney until a replacement can be found. If another attorney cannot be secured, Nicholson will represent Blankenship at trial. Leuthold ordered another pretrial within two weeks to settle final pretrial motions.