Scioto County Commissioners speak out about Groves trial
The death of baby Dylan Groves and the trial of his parents was on the minds of all three Scioto County Commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting. The two-month-old boy was found at the bottom of a well last spring and his parents are currently on trial for his murder.
During a discussion of drug prevention programs, Commissioner Bryan Davis said that he hoped drug education could help prevent future tragedies such as Dylan’s death and lamented the negative press coverage the trial had brought to the area.
Commissioner Mike Crabtree said, “Too many times, people try to justify their actions by saying ‘I’m on drugs’ and this case with Baby Dylan is just one incident. Routinely in the U.S., you hear how a parent has killed or abused a child because of addiction. In my view, there is no excuse for that.”
Davis added that defendants are innocent until proven guilty, “I’m sure prosecution and defense will have passionate arguments both ways. We have a very qualified judge overseeing the trial. We’ll see what happens. I don’t think we want to jump to any conclusions.”
Commissioner Cathy Coleman said the Commissioners had been working diligently to fix the problems with Children Services for three years. “It’s been an ongoing thing not just with the recent passing of the child.” Baby Dylan had been placed in foster care but was returned to his father. Ohio Job and Family Services found SCS to be out of compliance with state regulations in its supervision of that case.