By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer

KEYSER — Judge Andrew Frye denied a motion Friday to dismiss charges against former Keyser City Councilman Marques Rice, setting a Feb. 2 date for the long-anticipated trial on charges of embezzlement and making false pretenses.
Charleston Attorney Kitty Dooley, who is representing Rice, said she was disappointed in the ruling but remains prepared to take the case to trial.
“I think on the law the matter should have been dismissed, but if the case has to go to trial, it has to go to trial,” she said.
The embezzlement charge involves a $1 million, multi-year tree removal contract taken out by the city. According to the prosecution, the city had contracted with a local company to cut trees in 8 to 10-foot lengths and haul them to the city’s rubble fill, where city residents would be able to cut them into fireplace length for their own use.

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Prosecutors have said that Rice directed the tree service company to cut the wood into fireplace length and haul it to his own property. In changing the scope of the work, prosecutors said, Rice caused the cost of the contract to increase, with taxpayers picking up the tab.
The false pretenses charge involve Rice’s effort to ensure that the city would receive an insurance payment for a high-pressure sewer-line cleaner that was destroyed in an auto accident while being used by a city employee for his personal use. According to the prosecution, Rice had directed city staff to alter the insurance report to conceal the fact that the equipment was not being used for city work at the time of the accident.
Dooley said she is still weighing whether to seek a change of venue due to publicity or other factors which might prevent her client from receiving a fair trial. Currently the trial is set to be held at the Mineral County Courthouse.
“I'm discussing that with my client,” she said of a possible venue change.
In setting a starting date of Monday, Feb. 2, Judge Frye allowed for the court docket to remain open for a week-long trial. “That should be plenty of time,” Dooley said.
Dooley has said all along that she is prepared to take the case to trial rather than seek a plea agreement. While dismissal of charges would have been a shorter route, the attorney said she remains confident the case will be won at trial.
“We're a community of laws,” Dooley said. “The decision was made by the judge. Do I agree with it? I don't, but we have to follow the process to its logical end, obviously.”
Rice declined to comment on the latest development, deferring to his attorney.