Jurors in the trial of a former morgue pathology fellow and a Mount Auburn photographer, both charged with multiple counts of gross abuse of a corpse, could begin deliberations as soon as Friday.

        Defense attorneys for Dr. Jonathan Tobias and Thomas Condon, who began their cases Wednesday, are expected to wrap up testimony today.

        The charges against the 31-year-old pathologist and the 29-year-old commercial photographer stem from hundreds of negatives seized by police from Mr. Condon's Walnut Hills studio.

Condon

Tobias

        Mr. Condon is accused of taking photos at the Hamilton County Morgue that “treat a corpse in a manner that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities.”

        Dr. Tobias is accused of helping him.

        On Wednesday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel denied Dr. Tobias' request for an acquittal. However, he said Dr. Tobias' attorneys could reintroduce that request after all evidence had been presented.

        The defense began its case Wednesday with testimony from Ernie Waits, a local producer who, along with Mr. Condon, contacted the coroner's officer two years ago in the hopes of conducting individual projects about death.

        Mr. Waits wanted to do a video for children that would dispel their fear of death. Mr. Condon hoped to photograph corpses for a project about life and death.

        Mr. Waits said that, during a preliminary meeting, Mr. Condon showed Coroner Carl Parrott books that depicted images similar to the kinds contained on the negatives found in his studio.

        Dr. Parrott was interested in having the two men work on a training video that would include an autopsy and several other pathological procedures.

        Mr. Waits said morgue officials never said that plans for the video had been canceled, only that the project was “put on hold.”

        The defense has been building its case on the contention that morgue officials failed to communicate that Mr. Condon was no longer allowed in the morgue and that they never told him he could not pursue his own project.

        Defense attorneys have also questioned why prosecutors, after expressing outrage about the photos, did nothing to keep the evidence from the public.

        Because they did not seal the evidence, an employee in the county clerk's office was able to copy the photos and show them to friends.

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