A Hamilton County judge denied a request Thursday to dismiss a reckless endangerment charge against a woman accused of trying to kill her ex-husband in his Signal Mountain chiropractic office while her children waited in the car.
Tina Marie Loher, who faces a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of reckless endangerment, has been held in jail since last summer. Police said she drove to Dr. Terrance “Terry” Loher’s clinic and shot him in the leg while two other people were in the office.
The reckless endangerment charges are tied to those two people.
Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman, who issued the ruling in front of Ms. Loher and her lawyer, Myrlene Marsa, said he wouldn’t consolidate the reckless endangerment charges because he thought it could be misleading to jurors if there were not multiple counts and multiple victims.
“It may be that, upon conviction, that the court could consider merging the two convictions,” he said. “But I think to do so pre-trial would be premature.”
Ms. Marsa said she wants to argue that, under the law, reckless endangerment charges should be defined by the situation, not per victim.
“Later, the judge may agree with us under the facts,” she said.
The trial is set to begin Nov. 9. In the meantime, Ms. Loher is being held on $600,000 bond. The previous bond was raised in July because of concerns about her mental health.
Her diary entries, which surfaced in preliminary court hearings in July, were filled with writings about “demonic spirits” and why Dr. Loher needed to die.
At the time of the shooting, the two had been engaged in a bitter custody battle, and Ms. Loher allegedly refused to let Dr. Loher see his two daughters, records show.
“I know what I have to do now,” Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office detective Rodger Brown said, reading from the diary in the preliminary hearing as Dr. Loher sat in a wheelchair.
“Terry is filled with three demonic spirits. One is assigned to me, one to each of my children … I will have to create three portals of exit, that way the (demonic spirits) can leave.”
Staff writer Monica Mercer contributed to this story.