When police arrested Ishemer Ramsey on June 10, 2017, to question him about his missing girlfriend, they violated his constitutional right against warrantless seizures and searches, according to Ramsey's lawyer.

At the center of the state's case against Ramsey is a silver Hyundai Tiburon that he was driving on the day of his arrest.

“There was no arrest warrant for him; there was no search warrant for him,” Ramsey's attorney, Christopher Capozzi, wrote in his Dec. 31, court filing. “Rather (the) record reflects the Butler City Police wanted to question him, nothing more.”

The two sides are fighting over whether or not the car in question, which was seized by police shortly after Ramsey's arrest, should be allowed into evidence.

Capozzi contends that the car was searched illegally while the prosecution, headed by Butler Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz, said that the car was obtained legally.

Butler County Judge Timothy McCune is expected to make a decision soon regarding how the case and the car should be handled.

“The commonwealth would be prevented from using a lot of evidence if Judge McCune removes the Tiburon from the case,” Schultz said Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Ramsey shot Melissa Barto to death in 2017. Her body was discovered on a Lawrence County farm.

Ramsey is charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, hindering apprehension, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit the latter two crimes.

During a court hearing in November, McCune advised both sides to file their arguments in a lead-up to a trial.

Capozzi argued in a Dec. 31 filing that the prosecution's case is built on a shaky foundation and most of it should be dismissed. Capozzi declined to comment for this article.

Capozzi wrote in his court filing that while the facts and circumstances surrounding Barto's death “may raise suspicion of foul play on Mr. Ramsey's part, they do not amount to evidence sufficient to warrant any aspect of this case proceeding to verdict and, therefore, the case should be dismissed.”

Schultz responded Feb. 1, arguing that on the day Barto went missing — June 8, 2017 — both Ramsey and his friend, James Howard-George, were observed buying red rope, a tan tarp and blue gloves from a Walmart in Butler Township.

When Barto's body was found four days later, red rope and a partially burned tan tarp were found with her body, police said.

The state of Barto's remains led prosecutors to add the abuse of a corpse charge, but Capozzi wrote in his filing that to allege Ramsey was behind this, “the court must make the tenuous and speculative logical leap that Mr. Ramsey abused the corpse.”

Schultz wrote in the filing that additional evidence links Ramsey to Barto's murder.

This evidence includes surveillance video at a car wash depicting Ramsey and Howard-George power washing the interior of Ramsey's car. The car, confiscated by police on June 10, 2017, was missing its passenger seat and smelled strongly of bleach.

Schultz further writes that a spot of blood was discovered on the interior roof of the passenger side as well as a .45 slug in the passenger's side door.

All of this, Schultz said on Wednesday, is enough for the case to move forward.

“At this point, we only need to provide the lowest burden of proof,” Schultz said, explaining the process. “It's, 'Can I prove that a defendant more than likely did the crime?' and then when it comes to the jury, it has to be beyond a reasonable doubt. But we're not at that stage yet.”

Capozzi responded to this evidence in his filing: “Does this constellation of facts create a suspicion? Yes. Is it evidence Ms. Barto died in his vehicle and by his hand? No. Something more is required to prove Mr. Ramsey killed her.”

The lead-up to the arrest was explained by police during a hearing last year.

Butler Township Police officer Justin Hovancik testified on Nov. 14 that officers followed Ramsey in his car to the home of a friend on Eagle Mill Road. There, they detained Ramsey until Butler City police arrived to arrest him. Ramsey's vehicle was towed and his gun confiscated.

But in the filing, Capozzi wonders why police did this if they didn't have an arrest or search warrant for his client, calling the act “illegal activity by law enforcement.”

“Butler Township Police officers did not observe an offense occur, nor at the time did they have probable cause to believe that a felony occurred, or that Mr. Ramsey committed (it),” Capozzi writes in the filing, arguing that township police were acting outside of their jurisdiction in Connoquenessing.

“Instead, by their own admission, the Butler Township Police only knew that Mr. Ramsey was wanted for questioning in connection with a missing person.”

Responding to Capozzi's argument that township police overstepped their authority, Schultz wrote that it was too late for this argument to be made, citing a Pennsylvania law that dictates this kind of argument must be made within 30 days of the formal arraignment.

She further argued township police were doing their jobs properly and that the jurisdiction law wasn't a shield for criminal behavior.

“If you commit a crime here, you can't escape to, let's say, Allegheny County and say 'you can't try me,'” Schultz said Wednesday.

But the heart of the case is Ramsey's car.

His father, Leroy Ramsey, was the owner, with the car's title in his name.

On the day of Ramsey's arrest, he handed his father the car keys for safekeeping. After Ramsey was taken from the scene, officers asked Leroy Ramsey for those keys which he gave to police — leading to their discovery of the blood stain in the car.

But Capozzi argued that it doesn't matter who the car's title belonged to since Ramsey was the one who used it regularly.

“A defendant need not be titled owner of the place or thing,” Capozzi writes. “He may challenge the search if he has a possessory interest of some sort.”

Capozzi maintains Leroy Ramsey's consent was “insufficient.”

In addition, Capozzi also referenced a Supreme Court decision that requires that multiple property owners must all agree to “consent to a search of premises.”