Walter In Denver

Jailed for Blogging ... in the U.S.?

Northern Ohio bloggers Dr. Elsebeth Baumgartner and Bryan DuBois, blogging at Erie Voices, were arrested back in July. According to this LP release:

The bloggers were arrested in July on charges of intimidation, retaliation, and possession of criminal tools (a computer). Their trial began yesterday. The charges originated from a complaint made by retired visiting Judge Richard Markus, who alleges that Baumgartner and DuBois intimidated and threatened him in 2004 prior to a civil trial in which Baumgartner was the defendant, as reported by the North County Gazette.

The bloggers believe the indictments against them were for "publishing about judicial corruption." Daniel Kasaris, the Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor who filed the charges against Baumgartner and DuBois, had been the subject of criticism on the Erie Voices blog. Baumgartner and DuBois accused Kasaris of submitting a forged indictment the day before a pre-trial hearing. More specifically, the bloggers claim on their site, Erie Voices, that the grand foreman's signature was forged, contains numerous misspellings and does not resemble other Cuyahoga County indictments.

Lest this be dismissed as some paranoid Libertarian delusion, there's this from the North Country Gazette:

But the conflicts and outright blatant bias and prejudice already demonstrated in the case are overwhelming and raise serious questions if they can receive any semblance of a fair trial anywhere in northern Ohio.

The duo was charged this summer in a secret indictment obtained by assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Daniel Kasaris whose boss, William Mason, has been the target of the blog's allegations of wrongdoing.

On Nov. 7, Baumgartner and DuBois filed an motion with the Ohio Supreme Court for the disqualification of the trial judge, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Shirley Strickland-Saffold as well as all the Cuyahoga County Commons Pleas court judges and all retired visiting judges, on the grounds that Saffold is biased against them and has had prohibited communications with Markus, the complaining witness. A decision on that motion is expected this week by the Supreme Court, perhaps as early as Tuesday, Nov. 22.

Saffold clearly demonstrated her bias last week by revoking Baumgartner's bond and sending her to jail for three days without stating on the record the cause for the arrest and detention and while a stay of the proceedings imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court was in effect. The stay legally precluded Saffold, whose alleged bias was the subject of the pending motion, from taking any action in the case until the Supreme Court rules on the defendant's motion to remove Saffold from the case.

Saffold released Baumgartner from jail Thursday after a hearing was held.

But during the hearing, a starling revelation and admission was made, appearing to solidify allegations of wrongdoing and improper relationships between the court and the prosecutor when Kasaris revealed that his office was preparing Judge Saffold's response to Baumgartner's motion for her disqualification. In essence, the prosecutor is serving as the personal attorney for the judge in the case which is strictly prohibited by court rules and rules governing judicial conduct. It would also seem to serve as grounds for a complaint to filed against both Kasaris for allegedly violated the Code of Professional Responsibility, as well as Saffold for alleged judicial misconduct.

[Emphasis mine, errors in original]

It could be useful if this story were more widely known. Perhaps I've just missed the media coverage?

Posted by Walter at November 30, 2005 07:18 PM