Republican John Kasich Didn't Bother Signing Letter Pledging To Support Law Enforcement: No Time For Ohio's Cops





CINCINNATI (TDB) -- GOP candidate for Ohio governor John Kasich snubbed Ohio's Fraternal Order of Police earlier this year.  He didn't send a personal letter expressing support of law enforcement -- a form letter from a campaign worker was all Kasich mustered.  That's an odd lapse at best, an insult at worse.  Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman says he enthusiastically supports law enforcement.  Portman is playing up his endorsement from the Ohio FOP, which represents 26,000 cops (active and retired) around the state, including Cincinnati. Another Republican at the top of the GOP's statewide ticket this year, Maureen O'Connor, also is reveling in FOP support as she runs for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, has written letters to Ohio newspapers praising her as a top-notch administrator and judge.  But the cops are backing Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, in part because Kasich wouldn't give them the time of day.  Usually, the FOP's support is coveted.  The FOP's newsletter had this to say about Kasich's snub:

"Mr. Kasich did not interview with the political screening committee, he did not attend the conference to make himself available to our members and answer their questions in person, as Governor Strickland and every other candidate for statewide political office did.  A letter was sent expressing Mr. Kasich's support of law enforcement, but that was not even signed by Mr. Kasich, it was signed by a campaign worker.

"Without the participation of Mr. Kasich, we were left to press reports to get his political platform, which includes the abolition of the Ohio Income Tax and the privatization of public employees, both issues opposed by the FOP.  Also, Mr. Kasich's running mate has suggested to municipalities that they consider contracting out their law enforcement work to the Sheriff in her current role as Auditor of State."

FOP state president McDonald -- a Marion, Oh., police officer -- points out that the organization is non-partisan -- four Dems and four Republicans got its support this year.  McDonald has been on the road, where he notes that Kasich is pushing policies that would devastate public safety.  And McDonald said Kasich wants to privatize police and fire jobs.  In Lima last week, McDonald said about Kasich:

"He has repeatedly said if you can find it in the phone book, you can privatize it.  For-profit companies should not decide who goes to jail, who stays in jail, or be guarding the people in jail.  For-profit prisons are a detriment to public safety."

Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls Wants Bail Bond Accounting: Sees $$$$ Due City Cops To Battle Neighborhood Street Crime

Qualls Says Show Me The Money

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Roxanne Qualls heads the City Council's budget and finance committee and is looking for every penny available to close a $60 million budget gap.  Qualls has written Republican Clerk of Courts Patricia M. Clancy seeking a "formal accounting of cash bonds that are uncollected and the amount due to the CPD" -- Cincinnati police division.  The letter was hand-delivered to the clerk's office last Friday.  So far, Qualls has not gotten a response.  The Daily Bellwether has been reporting for nearly two weeks that Hamilton County judges have ordered cash bonds forfeited and that more than $4 million could be due and owing. Some of the uncollected bail bond money dates back to the mid-1990s.

 Meanwhile, there is a new twist to the bail bond scandal that seems to involve missing records.  Last week, the clerk of court's office released a computer printout showing it had 56 separate felony case where forfeited bonds had not been collected. But it now appears the list wasn't entirely accurate.  Perhaps there was a book keeper error, perhaps a mistake.  Or maybe the public records are just not up to date.  Or maybe something was being hidden.   



Judgment Missing from List 

 The Bellwether noticed that Case No. B-0802589 was not on the list made public last Thursday. The list was released in response to a freedom of information request filed by Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Tim Burke, who asked to see every forfeited bond that was owed. There is a $100,051 judgment for a forfeited bond in B-0802589 that was put on the books last year. The judgment has not been cancelled, according to county records. The case involves a convicted sex offender -- now a state prison parolee -- who failed to show up on court on charges that accused him of failing to register in Hamilton County. Interestingly, that offender had been shipped off to prison in an earlier criminal case, B-0403402, decided by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John Andrew "Skip" West. The plot thickens a bit because West forfeited a $20,000 cash bond after the defendant didn't show up for a court date. And that forfeiture is still owed to the county. Bottom line: one sex offender accounts for $120,000 in uncollected bail bond forfeitures involving two separate cases that date back six years.

Cincinnati Cop Gets New Trial In Gun-Theft Case: Lawyer Slept In Court

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A state appeals court says convicted Cincinnati police officer Edsel Edwards deserves a new trial because his lawyer nodded off and appeared to be sleeping at the defense table. At other times, the lawyer was described as incoherent. The complete text of the seven-page decision is here and it says the policeman was "prejudiced by his attorney's deficiencies."

Edwards, an eight-year veteran, was convicted of five counts of theft in office after a non-jury trial after his arrest in 2003. He was accused of stealing weapons and ammunition that a private citizens had been turned over to the Cincinnati police department for disposal. Edwards contended he logged a rifle and shotgun in the department's property room, and stayed late after his shift to complete paperwork on a .38-caliber pistol, a pellet gun, a box of ammo and two gun-cleaning kits. As the work dragged, he gave up, put the unlogged items in his car and went home. Other officers got a search warrant the next day and found the revolver concealed in Edwards' bedroom closet, the ammo in his car, and the pellet gun and cleaning kits in his bedroom.

Edwards said he put the revolver in the closet to keep it away from his young son.

The Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ordered a new trial. It said the evidence against the Cincinnati police officer was strong, but that his defense lawyer was ineffective.

"In this case, England was not adequately represented. England presented evidence, including the testimony of the court reporter from the trial, that his attorney had appeared to have slept through extended periods of the trial and that at other times throughout the trial the attorney had appeared incoherent or inattentive. Although the record does not indicate the precise times during the trial that counsel was asleep, notable lapses in counsel's representation -- especially during the prosecutor's cross-examination of England -- convince us that the counsel's inattentiveness prejudiced England's right to a fair trial."

The case is State of Ohio v. Edsel England, C-060784. On appeal, the police officer was represented by Mchaela M. Stagnaro. The appeals court said the cop's original defense lawyer also failed to discuss the case with witnesses and allowed damaging testimony to be introduced that damaged England's cause.

Pro-Life Protest: Court Says Cincy Cops Wrongly Interfered

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Joseph Michael Logsdon stages peaceful demonstrations outside abortion clinics in Southwest Ohio, and Cincinnati police violated the anti-abortion protester's rights when they arrested him in 2003 and 2004. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said he was a regular presence outside the Cincinnati Women's Services clinic and was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.

In the first incident, Logsdon said he went to retrieve a sign on the clinic's grounds that was taken by a clinic official. The sign was aimed at patients and said, "God has a plan for your baby."

The second incident was in June 2004, when he went into a public park adjacent to the clinic and spoke to a patient through a chain link fence. An officer took him into custody.

A three-judge appellate panel today reinstated the lawsuit Logsdon filed against the three police officers who halted his protests. He contends his First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment right against unlawful detention were violated. The original case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel earlier this decade. In reinstating the pro-life protester's case, the 6th Circuit said:

"Reading plaintiff's complaint in the light most favorable to him, defendants failed to reasonably determine whether they had probable cause. In the course of initially assessing whether probable cause to arrest existed, defendants respectively 'turned a blind eye" to potentially exculpatory evidence when they refused to listed to witnesses at the scene.

"A prudent officer must draw reasonable conclusions from the facts and evidence known to him as supported by 'reasonably trustworthy information.' It appears that defendants deliberately excluded from a totality of known facts and circumstance information that might bear on the accuracy, reliability, or trustworthiness of the report that plaintiff has trespassed on CWS's (Cincinnati Women's Clinic) property."