Jury finds Navy veteran not guilty

When a husband and wife saw a man walking through a shopping center parking lot trying to zip his coat, they mistakenly decided he was exposing himself. The husband became enraged and began screaming at my client. The husband got out and tried to chase him down on foot. When that didn't work, the husband returned to his car and began chasing the man with his vehicle. The police arrived, did absolutely no investigation, believed the husband and wife and charged my client with Public Indecency. My client was found not guilty when the jury learned of the lack of police work and compared the credibility of my client with that of the enraged husband.

Ongoing attack by ex-wife

After my client was able to plea down a domestic violence in Texas, he and his ex-wife were divorced.  He returned to Ohio.  His ex-wife followed.  She filed a request for a domestic violence protection order.  My client went to the hearing but was unable to navigate the legalese and properly defend himself.  He hired me and we returned to show the wife could not provide any reason she should fear harm.  We were able to show JS just wanted to get on with his life.  The order was lifted and they both went their separate ways.

A Hit Skip That Wasn't

My client hit an old, abandoned trash can left on the treelawn of a major road.  Ohio law gives a driver 24 hours to report damage to property.  My client pulled over and found his car disabled.  No one was around so he parked his car in a parking lot and went home.  The next morning he awoke and soon after called the police to dutifully report his accident.  My client was charged with hit-skip, a very serious charge.  The hit skip was dropped but as my client admitted to losing control, he did suffer a failure to control charge.  Please see my page describing your RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT.

Mental health issue leads to criminal charges

It isn't at all unusual to find that a person was charged in a criminal matter but the basis of the problem lies in a mental health issue.  E.D. was charged with trespassing not long after having pled to shoplifting.  As he was on probation for the shoplifting, his probation was revoked and he was sent to county jail for a term of thirty days.  Visiting him at County, I found other issues at play and interviewed his elderly mother.  While she wasn't tuned into what was happening, she led me to E.D.'s four children.  They had no idea the major change in behavior that had occurred.  I was able to transfer the thrust of the case from criminal to mental health, get him out of jail and connect him to mental health professionals who could help him with his problem.

OVI:  Second offense driving while intoxicated reduced

After a prior arrest for driving while intoxicated, my client pled guilty at his arraignment and did all that the first court asked.  When arrested again the client came to me.  He faced the longer second-offense mandatory jail time.  Here he would have been required to serve ten consecutive days.  I was able to show that there was no evidence that during the first sentencing his rights were properly explained to him.  This led to a reduction of his charge back to a first offense and my client escaped jail time.  He instead attended the standard 72 hour class for first offenders.

Domestic Violence:  Keeping a couple together

I spent a great deal of time in numerous pretrials laying the groundwork for a husband and wife to come back together as a couple. Ohio's domestic violence laws work well when violence is an issue. Otherwise it works to keep couples apart; providing protection but splitting marriages. Married forty years, K.W. and J.W. never realized the problems that would occur when they called the police. I managed to convince the court they belonged together. From a possible six months in jail and a $1000 maximum fine, K.W. had to do forty hours of community service and pay $122 in court costs.

Theft:  Misuse of credit card wasn't

After being caught shoplifting, D.R. tried to pay for the merchandise with another person's credit card.  She was charged with Receiving Stolen Property.  I was able to demonstrate that the owner of the card allowed D.R. to use the card; the card was not stolen.  D.R. pled to attempted theft.

Police investigation:  Over the top aggressive police behavior

I was retained by S.C. who had done nothing but be in a car with a co-worker.  That co-worker lost a bank deposit.  The police would normally talk to all involved parties.  In this case, S.C. had a prior felony theft conviction and was on probation.  The police arrived at S.C.'s parents house and became overly aggressive with S.C.'s family.  After some time they left telling the family they would get S.C. in trouble by reporting this matter to her probation officer.  And they did report it.  S.C. was hoping to move out of state and attend college.  Based on her prior experience with aggressive police officers she knew that it was likely they would lie, shout and be extremely overbearing.  S.C. came to me.  I became the go-between.  I insured the police understood that her rights would be protected to the maximum degree.  Further abuse would not be used.  The police changed their attitude.  The resulting interview was professional and no untrue information was used by the police.  S.C. disclaimed her involvement and the report became what it should of been in the first place.  That is, a report about lost property.

Police officers can lie in their investigation.  They can claim they have evidence they don't have.  For example, a standard police trick is to toss a blank DVD on the table in front of a suspect and state that "It is all there, right there on the DVD.  "We have video of you committing the crime!"  Proper representation will stop this nonsense.  I will stop this nonsense.

I will zealously represent you and your family as far as the law will allow.  I will certainly not back down when prosecutors or police officers make threats against either you or against us.

Internet:  Abuse of a teacher by a group of students

While students have a well-protected right to their opinions of their teachers, they hold no right to defame them.  Here a group of students began harassing a teacher by commenting on what they perceived to be problems with her physical sexuality.  They also suggested they should have blown up the school.  While most schools would react with an aggressive police investigation, this particular school was laissez-faire in their attitude.  I was retained and forced the criminal investigation around the school and directly to the police.  I then made it known through the community that while the teacher just wanted to be free of the defamation, that same defamation opened the parents to significant liability.  The abuse was terminated.

Internet:  Blackmail

My client met a girl on-line and they became friends.  This led to a sexual encounter that was terminated with the girl demanding that my client pay him or that she would tell his wife, accuse him of crimes and ruin his life.  I first insured that all criminal matters were properly reported and then gave counseling as to what might happen should the girl press the issue.  The girl faded back into anonminity.