Former pastor's trial delayed a month

SANDUSKY — The third trial for a local pastor accused of child sex crimes will be delayed for a month. Richard Mick, 59, of Castalia, was originally supposed to go to trial Aug. 10. Formerly a pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church, Mick faces felony charges including rape and gross sexual imposition. Attorneys met behind closed doors with visiting Judge John Haas Monday morning. A court staffer told the Register the trial had been pushed back to Sept. 21, with a pretrial hearing set for earlier in the month. Mick's case has been full of twists and turns. In his first trial, in 2016, his then-attorney, K. Ronald Bailey, refused to participate in the trial citing grievances with the judge's decisions. Bailey had his law license suspended for one year because of his conduct during the trial. The trial went on anyway and Mick was convicted and imprisoned, but in 2018, an appeals court overturned his conviction and gave him a new trial. Then in 2019, Mick had his second trial while still being represented by Bailey. After several days of trial testimony, it came out that the prosecution didn't give a piece of evidence — a police report — to the defense in pre-trial discovery. The judge ruled a mistrial as a result. Bailey withdrew as Mick's attorney after his suspension this year. He's now being represented by Christopher Maher, also of Bailey's law firm, the Bailey Legal Group.