GALLIPOLIS — Jury trials were continued in the cases of two men accused in the January slaying of Gallipolis resident Ralph N. Sands earlier this week in Gallia County Common Pleas Court.

The body of the 58-year-old Sands was discovered in his Fourth Avenue residence on Jan. 14 after a neighbor noticed his front door was ajar. The neighbor discovered Sands lying face down on his couch with his hands bound behind his back.

Douglas R. Blake, 27, 117 Fourth Ave., Gallipolis, and Joshua D. Saunders, 25, 381 Buck Ridge Road, Apartment 87, Bidwell, have been charged with four counts each in connection to Sands’ death being murder, aggravated burglary, abduction, and receiving stolen property.

The two men were arrested on unrelated misdemeanor charges in the days following the homicide and housed in the Gallia County Jail until Feb. 13, when they were indicted by the Gallia County grand jury.

Both men pled not guilty to the charges and bonds were set at $1 million, ten percent secured. Neither were able to meet the bond amount and currently remain incarcerated in the Gallia County Jail.

The case was initially continued after Blake and Saunders waived their rights to a speedy trial. An agreed motion to continue the case further was accepted by the court on Monday.

Saunders is scheduled to be tried first on Aug. 26. He is currently being represented by Douglas M. Cowles of Gallipolis. Charles Knight was initially appointed as his lawyer, but withdrew from the defense due to a conflict of interest after he discovered that he was acting as counsel of record in current felony cases for three of the state’s witnesses in this case.

Blake’s jury trial is scheduled the following week on Sept. 2. He is currently being represented by William N. Eachus of Gallipolis.