Bodenweiser retrial to begin Jan. 12

A retrial of former Delaware Senate candidate Eric Bodenweiser has been scheduled Monday, Jan. 12, but the location of the new trial is still up in the air. Bodenweiser’s first trial ended in a hung jury.

Bodenweiser’s attorney, Joe Hurley, has filed a motion to move the case to Delaware Superior Court in Dover. An opening brief in Hurley’s motion is due before Judge E. Scott Bradley Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Hurley will be without his co-counsel in the first trial, Georgetown attorney Eric Mooney, who left the case in August. Neither Hurley nor Mooney responded to requests for comment.

Department of Justice officials have said Bodenweiser would be tried on the same charges as before: 10 counts of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and five counts of unlawful sexual contact related to allegations that he molested a then-11 year old boy when the two were neighbors in Frankford. The accuser is now 37 years old and lives in Florida.

Meanwhile, Bodenweiser’s friends have begun a website to support him, called freebodie.com. David Forman, who helped organize the site, said the site does not take donations but is to inform the public about the amount of money spent on the case and the lack of evidence or reason to retry.

The site has a petition addressed to Attorney General Joseph “Beau” Biden III, state prosecutor Kathy Jennings and the prosecuting attorneys on the case, David Hume and John Donahue. The petition asks the Attorney General’s Office to reconsider trying Bodenweiser, saying he represents no danger to the safety of the community. The petition says there are no other victims, the crimes are over 25 years old and the accuser admitted to lying during the first trial.

Bodenweiser’s supporters want criminal charges against Bodenweiser dismissed before additional taxpayer funds are spent, saying the victim has the option of pursing a civil suit.