Moore was scheduled for retrial Monday morning in the June 2009 cold case disappearance and presumed murder of Glenna J. White, 16, after White left a home in Smith Township with Moore.

But Special Prosecutor Dan Kasaris filed a motion with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney on Monday morning asking that she dismiss the murder charge “without prejudice,” meaning the case can be filed again. In court Monday, she approved the motion.

Kasaris’ motion stated that he was asking for the dismissal because of Sweeney’s recent ruling barring prosecutors from introducing evidence at trial regarding Moore’s previous conviction. Sweeney allowed that evidence in the first trial, but ruled differently when it came to a hearing earlier this month.

In the first trial, a jury found Moore not guilty of aggravated

Robert L. Moore, 55, of Alliance waited in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Monday for a hearing at which Judge Maureen Sweeney dismissed his murder charge, allowing him to go free. He had been in the county jail more than four years awaiting about seven different attempts to bring him to trial. (Photo by Ed Runyan)

murder but could not decide on murder, so prosecutors decided to try him again. That led to about seven more attempts to try him again. Various issues led to the trial not going forward, including illness and issues related to a key witness.

“This evidence was an important piece of evidence for the State of Ohio. Based upon the current state of the evidence in this matter, additional investigatory work is necessary so that this matter could proceed to trial,” Kasaris stated in his motion.

In court Monday, Kasaris asked Sweeney to dismiss the case “so we can continue to investigate what happened to Glenna (White) and to bring prompt and secure justice for her.”

Sweeney’s ruling noted that it means prosecutors “are free to bring this matter again before a grand jury as it feels the evidence warrants.”

Moore was indicted in December 2021, resulting in Moore’s arrest. He went on trial in May 2022. Then, trials were postponed about six times.

Kasaris was handling the case because Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro had consulted with Moore’s family at one time about representing Moore, which created a conflict with her office prosecuting Moore.

White disappeared from a home on Alden Avenue in Smith Township, near Alliance, on June 2, 2009, after leaving with Moore, who returned about an hour later without White, according to earlier filings in the case. The case went cold for many years before the Portage County detective restarted it.

Moore’s attorney in 2022, Max Haupt of Alliance, argued that information related to Moore that dated back decades earlier should not be allowed to be presented at Moore’s trial. But Sweeney ruled that it was admissible.