Ohio

Judge is suspended for ogling litigant and losing temper in ‘attorneys are stupid’ tirade

An Ohio magistrate judge accused of ogling a litigant and declaring that attorneys are stupid will be suspended from law practice for two years as a result of action by the Ohio Supreme Court. The judge, Stephen Edwin Weithman, will be suspended as a result of an Aug. 7 order…

Aug 13, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Woman captured 5 days after fleeing courthouse; bailiff allegedly struck by her truck during escape

Sentenced Friday by an Ohio municipal judge to 180 days for stealing from a Walmart store, Stephanie Rybkoski asked for permission to step outside the courtroom to make a cellphone call to her family. She exited the courtroom, followed by a bailiff, and placed the call. Then, while still on…

Aug 12, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Judges may not refuse to perform gay marriages, Ohio ethics opinion says

Judges in Ohio are violating their obligations to comply with the law if they refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on personal, religious or moral beliefs, according to an Ohio ethics opinion. The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct issued the opinion after a handful of judges refused to…

Aug 12, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Acquitted man sues ‘Cold Justice’ producers and sheriff over claimed malicious murder prosecution

Acquitted earlier this year in the 1981 murder of his ex-wife, an Ohio man has filed a federal civil rights suit over a true-crime television show. In portraying the case in August 2014, TNT’s Cold Justice put him in a false light, Steven Noffsinger contends. The suit says that the…

Aug 11, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Court upholds lawyer’s bribery conviction for civil settlement offers made to rape victims

The proposed deals were termed civil settlements. Two rape victims would be paid a minimum of $50,000 each to settle their civil claims. The only catch, according to witnesses, was that the victims would say something favorable about the criminal defendant at sentencing. Citing those facts, the Ohio Court of…

Aug 5, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Judge tells defendant he would do society a favor by killing himself

A judge in Akron, Ohio, is defending his message to a defendant with a record of multiple arrests. The retired municipal judge from Barberton, who was helping Akron municipal court officials with a heavy arraignment caseload, told the defendant on June 30 that he would do society a favor by…

Aug 4, 2015 7:22 AM CDT

Murder case against cop over fatal traffic stop ‘absolutely unwarranted,’ his lawyer says

A murder indictment against a former University of Cincinnati police officer who shot a man he had pulled over for lacking a front license plate was “absolutely unwarranted,” a lawyer for the fired cop says. Attorney Stewart Mathews said he had expected officer Ray Tensing, 25, to be indicted on…

Jul 30, 2015 8:50 AM CDT

White police officer faces murder case in shooting of black motorist in license-plate traffic stop

A white University of Cincinnati police officer who stopped a black motorist for having a missing front license plate and then shot him to death as he sat in the driver’s seat of his vehicle has been indicted for murder. Officer Ray Tensing “purposefully killed” motorist Samuel DuBose during the…

Jul 29, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Cellphone user had no expectation of privacy in pocket-dialed call, 6th Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that the former chairman of an airport board in Kentucky had no expectation of privacy in an inadvertent “pocket dial” call. The decision (PDF) by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds dismissal of the suit by James Huff, the former chairman…

Jul 21, 2015 2:24 PM CDT

Request for documents from the beginning of time is too broad, federal judge says

A federal judge has concluded he has to police discovery in a suit by a fired Ohio State University band director because of “discouraging” behavior by lawyers. U.S. District Judge James Graham acted on Wednesday in a gender bias suit filed by former marching band director Jonathan Waters, the Associated…

Jul 16, 2015 8:38 AM CDT

Court closed after shot accidentally fired by security officer; reporter arrested in meeting melee

An Ohio courthouse was put on lockdown Thursday morning and closed to the public for the rest of the day after a shot was fired during a dispute at a meeting in the Richland County commissioners’ office. A security guard reportedly fired his gun by accident, and another man, Ashland…

Jul 10, 2015 10:05 AM CDT

Grenade-shaped perfume bottle caused evacuation at Ohio courthouse

It was shaped like a World War II-era pineapple grenade and even had a cap and a pin. A bomb-sniffing dog alerted to its unusual scent. But the suspicious object in a suitcase that closed an Ohio courthouse for most of the day on Tuesday was actually a perfume bottle,…

Jul 1, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Federal judge sees late-night deadline issue as ‘sad commentary’ on lives of associates

A federal judge in Ohio granted a 20-minute extension to lawyers who claimed “technical issues” interfered with their ability to make a midnight filing deadline, but not without comment on the tribulations of associate life. In a June 10 order, U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary of Toledo gave lawyers from…

Jun 15, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Judge finds probable cause to charge police officers in Cleveland boy’s shooting death

A Cleveland judge has found that probable cause exists to charge two police officers in the shooting death last November of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. But the judge said Thursday he was powerless to order the officers’ arrest without a complaint from prosecutors, the New York Times, Cleveland.com and NBC News…

Jun 11, 2015 5:50 PM CDT

Little-used Ohio law will be invoked by Cleveland community leaders seeking charges against cops

Community leaders in Cleveland are trying to obtain charges against police officers in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice using procedures in a rarely used Ohio law. The leaders planned to file six affidavits in municipal court on Tuesday seeking the arrests of Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and…

Jun 9, 2015 9:55 AM CDT