Ohio

Trial Attorney Who Seemed to Have It All Is Now in Jail Awaiting a Bed in Drug Rehab Program

Once a handsome, successful and charismatic criminal defense lawyer described by a fellow Ohio attorney and friend as brilliant in the courtroom, David Scacchetti has had a spectacular fall from grace. Facing a felony heroin possession charge, the 55-year-old is represented by a public defender and has appeared disheveled in…

Jan 26, 2012 7:38 PM CST

TV Station Lampoons Corruption Trial with Puppet Court Re-Enactment

Viewers eager for information about the corruption trial of a former Cuyahoga County commissioner can’t watch the proceedings because of a ban on cameras in court. But viewers can watch a nightly puppet re-enactment aired by WOIO, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The puppets’ lines come from daily testimony and…

Jan 19, 2012 3:19 PM CST

Ex-Prez of Ohio State Bar Inflated Law Firm Biz Expenses, Gets 1 Year in Federal Tax Case

A former president of the Ohio State Bar Association has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to falsifying federal tax returns. Under the sentence he received from a federal judge in Youngstown, Leslie W. “Les” Jacobs, 67, must also serve just under…

Jan 18, 2012 9:02 PM CST

Rescued Lawyer, 84, Says Age Is No Impediment to Another Cape Horn Solo Sailing Try

An 84-year-old lawyer who was rescued during his sixth attempt to sail solo around the tip of South America says he may try again. Thomas Louis Corogin was rescued by the Chilean navy after a piece of rigging broke and his attempts to fix it didn’t work, the Associated Press…

Jan 10, 2012 12:56 PM CST

Cleveland Sues Ohio to Keep Its Trans Fat Ban

Cleveland Mayor Frank Johnson filed a complaint Tuesday against Ohio in response to a recent state law that bans municipalities from regulating the ingredients restaurants use to prepare foods. The battle over trans fat began last April when, as part of its Healthy Cleveland initiative, the Cleveland City Council passed…

Jan 4, 2012 10:55 PM CST

BigLaw Attorney Makes His Mark in Viral Metal Band Video Panned as Worst of 2011

Corrected: By day, Steven A. Delchin is a senior attorney at Squire Sanders & Dempsey specializing in litigation and appellate matters. But on his off hours he lets his imagination take him far from the corporate world, as a viral YouTube video demonstrates. Featuring Alternate Reality, a metal band in…

Dec 12, 2011 3:30 PM CST

Ohio Fetal Heartbeat Bill Divides Abortion Opponents

Abortion opponents are divided over a pending bill in Ohio that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Ohio Right to Life and the state Catholic conference have refused to endorse the bill because of fears it could result in legal precedent reaffirming Roe v. Wade, the…

Dec 5, 2011 4:44 PM CST

State Removes 200-Pound Boy, 8, From Mom’s Home Because He Is Too Fat

Few would dispute that overweight children are a national problem with worrisome potential health consequences, including the mother of a 200-pound 8-year-old Ohio boy who was removed from her home last month because he is too fat. However, some observers wonder whether the unusual action by Cleveland-area officials was appropriate,…

Nov 28, 2011 9:35 PM CST

Feds Raid Fringe Amish Group’s Compound, Arrest 7 in Alleged Hair-Cutting Hate Crimes

Responding to alleged attacks that had struck fear into the hearts of residents of pacifist Amish communities in multiple Midwestern states, federal authorities raided the Ohio compound of a breakaway Amish group this morning and arrested seven men. They are accused of hate crimes in a bizarre series of hair-cutting…

Nov 23, 2011 9:55 PM CST

Taft Stettinius Grows Again, Plans to Add 30-Attorney Chester Willcox & Saxbe

Taft Stettinius & Hollister plans to add another 30 lawyers to its roster Jan. 2, when a merger is planned with Columbus-based Chester Willcox & Saxbe. Charles “Rocky” Saxbe will share management of the melded 42-attorney Columbus office with David Johnson, who has been at the helm there since 1983,…

Nov 16, 2011 12:21 AM CST

In ‘Landslide Vote,’ Ohio Voters Repeal Law Limiting Bargaining Rights of Public Sector Unions

Ohio voters on Tuesday repealed a law that limited collective bargaining rights for public sector unions. The New York Times says the law was overturned in “a landslide vote.” Sixty-one percent of the voters backed the repeal, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Bloomberg News says. The overturned law had…

Nov 9, 2011 12:44 PM CST

Ohio Lawyer’s License Is Suspended for Mishandling Client Funds

An Ohio lawyer has been indefinitely suspended for mishandling client funds. The Ohio Supreme Court held Thursday that Columbus lawyer Percy Squire failed to keep client funds separate from his own money and kept no records as to how he was using client money that had been entrusted to him,…

Nov 4, 2011 10:21 PM CDT

Ex-Ohio AG Blames ‘Arrogance’ and ‘Hubris’ for His Downfall in Testimony Before Disciplinary Board

A former Ohio attorney general who resigned in 2008 in the midst of a sexual harassment scandal blamed his own “arrogance” and “hubris” yesterday in testimony before a disciplinary panel. “I thought that I was something special,” Marc Dann, 49, told the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline. The…

Nov 4, 2011 1:58 PM CDT

Expert Witness Lawyer Morphed Stock Photos Into Alleged Child Porn for Exhibits, Told to Pay $300K

A lawyer who digitally altered stock photographs of children into explicit images to help in the defense of child pornography cases in Ohio and Oklahoma has himself been found to have crossed the line and ordered by a federal court yesterday to pay $300,000 in damages. The judgment against attorney…

Oct 22, 2011 2:03 AM CDT

1st Offender, Once a Court Employee, Gets 21-Year Maximum in Attack on Prosecutor and Her Brother

Beaten and stabbed at least eight times by her ex-boyfriend earlier this year, an Ohio prosecutor told a visiting judge today of regaining consciousness at home in a pool of her own blood and finding her younger brother, a criminal defense lawyer who had been beaten and stabbed 19 times…

Oct 18, 2011 1:36 AM CDT