Jefferson Pizza Ranch arson evidence will be allowed in court.

District Court Judge Gary McMinimee recently overruled an evidence suppression motion by the defendant Robert Schultz in the arson case for the Jefferson Pizza Ranch. Defense Attorney Robert Owens filed the motion on August 15th. The defense claimed that evidence collected from the fire scene at the resturant was done so without a warrant and wanted the evidence to be thrown out before the trial.

According to court documents, McMinimee disagreed with the defense claims, citing a case that allows entry into a building to fight a fire and officials to stay inside to investigate the cause of a fire, but if evidence of arson is found, then the items can be admissible in court. Documents show that Jack Williams, who was captain of the fire department, has training in arson investigations and is the chief deputy of the Greene County Sheriff’s office, conducted a contemporaneous inspection of the fire scene and it was directed to the premises involved in the fire and that which was in plain view, rather than to unaffected areas like the defense argued.

Schultz is accused of setting fires to the restaurant he owns on January 27th. He is charged with a Class B Felony for first degree arson, a Class C Felony for first degree criminal mischief and a Class D Felony for insurance fraud.

Online court documents show that the pre-trial date is scheduled for October 24th and the jury trial begins on November 1st.