Paulus wants trial in Ashland, court records say

Nov. 2—ASHLAND — Dr. Richard Paulus is asking a federal judge to keep his trial and case in Ashland, downplaying any potential tainting on the jury pool in the area.

In a motion filed Tuesday, the doctor's attorneys asked U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning to keep the trial in Ashland, stating that a trial will the city will be more convenient for the doctor, witnesses and any potential victim in the case.

The original trial in 2016 took place in Covington.

According to the motion, any notion of pretrial publicity tainting the jury pool was blown out of proportion by federal prosecutors, who cited a number of articles by The Daily Independent as providing enough background in the case for jurors to make up their minds.

"This court summons jurors from eight counties with a combined population of more than 180,000 people," the motion stated. "The notion that an impartial jury of 12 or 16 cannot be located from this pool blinks reality, especially in light of the many years that have elapsed since the time frame of the allegations in this case."

Paulus was indicted in the mid-2010s on charges of health care fraud, after prosecutors said he performed unnecessary heart stents in order to bilk Medicare. The case has since gone through multiple appeals, resulting in his conviction being overturned in early 2020.

According to the motion, "an inflammatory circus warranting transfer simply does not exist in this case" and the articles that have appeared in The Daily Independent "simply report recent events in this case and fall short of the 'inflammatory, circus-like atmosphere' that the Sixth Circuit has said is necessary for a trial to be moved due to pre-trial publicity."

Defense attorneys argued that much more emotionally charged and higher profile cases have seen impartial juries sat in the respective areas, including Enron, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The motion also stated Paulus has not set foot at King's Daughters Medical Center in nine years and any interaction a potential juror had with the hospital in the intervening years isn't enough to to not be able to sit a jury, stating "memories of his work at KDMC have faded."