Ohio

Lawyer is more worried about climate change than Ebola; chance of wedding-shop exposure is remote

Cleveland lawyer Peter Pattakos recalls his reaction when a friend alerted him that he was fitted for a tux at an Akron wedding shop at about the same time that Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson was in the store. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’ ” Pattakos tells the Northeast Ohio…

Oct 21, 2014 8:06 AM CDT

Ex-judge gets 60 days and 6 months of house arrest for prostitution and court records convictions

Convicted of misdemeanors last month for falsifying court records and having sex with prostitutes but acquitted of felony charges, a Bedford, Ohio, municipal court judge retired last week and has now been sentenced to a 60-day jail term and six months of house arrest. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brian…

Oct 16, 2014 11:45 AM CDT

Lawyer who told client to destroy cellphone SIM card is acquitted of obstruction charge

A prominent Cincinnati criminal defense lawyer who told her client to destroy his cellphone SIM card was acquitted Tuesday on a charge of obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors had argued lawyer Mary Jill Donovan likely knew that her drug client was being investigated when she told her client to destroy…

Oct 15, 2014 7:44 AM CDT

Jury convicts juvenile judge on 1 felony count, deadlocks on 8 others

After deliberating for days, an Ohio jury has convicted a suspended juvenile court judge of a felony but deadlocked on eight other charges. Judge Tracie Hunter could get as much as 18 months after being convicted of unlawful interest in a public contract in the Hamilton County case, but she…

Oct 14, 2014 1:00 PM CDT

Lawyer is federally indicted in heroin case, had $90K seized at airport

A California lawyer has been federally indicted in a heroin trafficking case in Las Vegas and lost $90,000 in cash when authorities seized the money from him at an Ohio airport earlier this year. Glen Hunsberger, 46, and two co-defendants were charged Tuesday by a grand jury with conspiracy to…

Oct 9, 2014 9:00 AM CDT

Woman is arrested after complaining to police about unflattering mug shot

Unhappy about a mug shot of herself posted on a law enforcement Facebook page that she felt was unflattering, a 34-year-old Ohio woman called the Columbus police department to complain. The Columbus Division of Police was taking part in a social-media campaign called “#WarrantWednesday,” in which law enforcement officials post…

Oct 8, 2014 11:55 AM CDT

SCOTUS blocks early voting scheduled in Ohio for today; ACLU official predicts confusion

Polls won’t be open today in Ohio after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday stayed lower court rulings that restored early voting in the state. The Supreme Court approved the stay in a 5-4 order, report the New York Times, the Washington Post, SCOTUSblog and the Columbus Dispatch. Justices Ruth…

Sep 30, 2014 10:11 AM CDT

How a series of attacks by a breakaway Amish sect became a landmark hate-crimes case (podcast)

The Amish religion is a branch of Christianity which adheres to a doctrine of simplicity, non-violence and forgiveness. How then did a breakaway group come to be implicated in the first federal trial which prosecuted religiously motivated hate crimes within the same faith community?

Sep 29, 2014 5:23 PM CDT

Grand jurors clear cops in fatal shooting of man carrying air rifle at Wal-Mart

A special grand jury in Ohio has declined to indict two police officers in the fatal shooting of a man holding a pellet gun and talking on his cellphone at a Wal-Mart store. Grand jurors in Xenia, Ohio, were asked to consider charges or murder, reckless homicide or negligent homicide,…

Sep 24, 2014 12:18 PM CDT

Toledo law firm founded 45 years ago closes its doors

Once the fourth largest law firm in Toledo, Cooper & Kowalski is shutting its doors 45 years after its founding. Cooper & Kowalski closed on July 31 and is in the process of dissolution, the Toledo Blade reports. “It is a sad outcome but these things happen,” co-founding partner Cary…

Sep 8, 2014 6:52 AM CDT

Ex-official gets time in law firm kickback case

A former law director and prosecutor for the city of Bedford, Ohio, was sentenced to six months Wednesday after taking a plea to a lesser charge in a bribery case that involved, among other issues, a $9,500 law firm kickback for bond work. Kenneth Schuman, who is 42 or 43,…

Sep 4, 2014 2:20 PM CDT

After prosecutor’s live courtroom feed is disclosed, judges consider expanding viewing areas

After disclosure of a live courtroom video feed to the prosecutor’s office in Warren County, Ohio, judges are considering expanding the program to include more remote-viewing locations. Judges are considering adding viewing areas in the attorney waiting area and the law library, the Dayton Daily News reports. Administrative Judge Donald…

Aug 28, 2014 2:01 PM CDT

Judge accused of punching, choking and biting his wife is indicted and put on leave

An Ohio judge accused of punching, biting and choking his wife in an attack that put her in the hospital with a fractured orbital bone and other injuries earlier this month has been indicted and put on paid leave. Judge Lance Mason, who sits in Cuyahoga County, was indicted by…

Aug 27, 2014 2:45 PM CDT

Ohio lawyer is sentenced to 13 years for sex crimes; jury ‘got it wrong,’ he says

An Ohio lawyer sentenced to 13 years in prison on Tuesday for sex crimes maintained his innocence in a nearly hour-long statement to the court. Javier Armengau, who was suspended from practice after his conviction last month, dissected the evidence and claimed witnesses were coerced to lie, report the Columbus…

Aug 27, 2014 1:47 PM CDT

Judge says he had no obligation to disclose prosecutor’s live feed of court hearings

A judge in Warren County, Ohio, is defending his decision to allow a live camera and audio feed of hearings and trials to be piped into the prosecutor’s office. Judge James Flannery said judges had no obligation to tell lawyers about prosecutor David Fornshell’s cameras; instead it was up to…

Aug 15, 2014 1:07 PM CDT