DAILY
NEWS DIGEST
The
North Country Gazette
www.northcountrygazette.org
June
Maxam, Publisher
Co-Publisher,
The Empire Journal
Tuesday,
Nov. 15, 2005
CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO---In one of the most egregious displays of abuse of power and bias from the bench, Cuyahoga County Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold has revoked the bond of former attorney and pharmacist Elsebeth Baumgartner and sent her back to jail.
However, Saffold gave no reason for Baumgartner's arrest Monday.
Bryan DuBois,28, editor of a blog which focuses on judicial and political corruption in northern Ohio, and his associate, Dr. Baumgartner, 50, were charged this summer with multiple felonies in a secret indictment obtained by Daniel Kasaris whose boss, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason had been the target of the blog's allegations.
Baumgartner had filed a motion last week seeking the disqualification of Saffold and other Ohio judges from hearing the case saying that the extreme bias harbored against Baumgartner by Saffold and other judges is grounds for disqualification in the case in which a judge is the complaining witness.
The trial in the case had been scheduled to begin Monday but the Supreme Court has imposed a stay in all proceedings until Nov. 22 when it is expected to rule on Baumgartner's motion.
Additionally, Richard Olivito, the attorney representing DuBois, is the subject of a disciplinary proceeding before the Supreme Court of Ohio's Board of Commissioners on Grievances Discipline which recommended Friday that Olivito be suspended from practicing law for two years with one year suspended.
On Monday, upon informing Saffold of the action pending against his attorney, DuBois discharged Olivito and requested a continuance to obtain new counsel. In an interview with The North Country Gazette , DuBois said that Saffold remarked that after the Supreme Court rules on the affidavit of bias on Nov. 22, she would be proceeding to trial within 30 minutes of the decision.
"How is Judge Saffold so sure that the Supreme Court will keep her on the case?", Olivito asked. "Is she inferring that she knows something that rest of us don't know?"
DuBois said that while he would like to retain Olivito as his attorney. He asked Safford if she knew about Olivito's situation. DuBois said that Saffold admitted to knowing about the disciplinary proceedings and then reiterated that DuBois needed to obtain new counsel and that the trial would be moving forward without delay.
Saffold stated that if DuBois as Baumgartner's co-defendant hadn't also filed an affidavit of bias against her why they couldn't move forward against DuBois. Kasaris told Saffold that he didn't want to try the case twice.
Baumgartner's affidavit of bias argues that since the complaining witness against her is retired visiting judge Richard Markus, a prominent judge who has served in Cuyahoga County and has close political ties with many Cuyahoga County officials, the entire Cuyahoga bench should be disqualified. Records show that Chief Justice Tom Moyer has ruled that when an appearance of unfairness exists because a jurist is involved in the case, the entire bench was disqualified.
Baumgartner had also filed a written motion seeking a continuance in her matter which was arbitrarily denied by Safford. Safford had adjourned the matter until Nov. 22 on the basis of the Supreme Court stay and had left the bench. In a conversational tone to DuBois and others and not addressed to the judge, Baumgartner reportedly stated "I'll be amending the affidavit of bias…."
DuBois said that Safford suddenly stopped, turned and returned to the microphone, calling for the deputy of the court. Safford then stated, "All right, we're going back on the record---deputy, arrest her, I'm revoking her bond".
Saffold gave no cause on the record for revocation of the bond and incarceration. One cannot legally be jailed without cause.
Dr. Baumgartner has been a long-time critic of Ohioan government, both local and state, alleging massive federal and state grant fraud as well as abuses of power by public officials, particularly Erie County district attorney Kevin Baxter and numerous judges in northern Ohio, especially Markus and Chief Judge Thomas Moyer.
Baumgartner teamed up with DuBois in the publication of Erie Voices, www.erievoices.com/blog , a website that publishes articles and opinion alleging misconduct by public officials in several northern Ohio counties including Cuyahoga, Erie, Lucas and Ottawa which lie on the shores of Lake Erie.
The day after DuBois as editor of Ohio's Erie Voices sent an email to the Cuyahoga County Commissioners in July detailing how Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason and Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter were allegedly exchanging "special prosecutor" appointments on political cases, he was arrested.
Kasaris indicted Baumgartner and DuBois one day after DuBois filed a grievance against Kasaris and retired visiting judge Markus with the Cuyahoga County Bar Association. Kasaris is now prosecuting the Erie Voices writers and Markus is the complainant in the case, alleging that DuBois and Baumgartner intimidated him with an email on the eve of a civil trial last November in which Baumgartner was the defendant.
Additionally, Safford was the presiding judge in Baumgartner's appeal of the revocation of her pharmacy license, ruling that Baumgartner was a mentally impaired pharmacist. Safford has vehemently denied it despite court records.
Saffold entered her judgment against Baumgartner the say day that Markus entered a $175,000 judgment against her in the trial during which he claims Baumgartner intimidated him. In the pharmacy hearing before Saffold, Markus had filed a notice with Saffold against Baumgartner indicating that he had deemed her a vexatious litigator and that Baumgartner was not allowed to represent herself and would need a lawyer. Markus ordered Saffold that if Baumgartner attempted to proceed in appealing the revocation of her pharmacy license that Saffold was to immediately dismiss the case.
"None of what you say is true", Saffold shouted from the bench, in an obvious display of distemperment.
But the time stamped copies of documents on file in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court show otherwise.
Although Markus claimed he was intimidated by the email, he did not recuse himself from presiding at the November, 2004 trial in which he ruled against Baumgartner and entered a $175,000 judgment against her. Although he claims he felt threatened, he waited over seven months before filing a complaint against the bloggers in separate incidents and didn't recuse himself from Baumgartner's trial as ethics rules demand. In the meantime, he filed 34 counts of criminal contempt against Dr. Baumgartner for criticizing him and other public officers.
Baumgartner has long been a thorn in the side of public officials and especially the judiciary, Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter and Chief Judge Thomas Moyer.
DuBois says that witnesses have told him that following a court hearing in Cuyahoga County, Kasaris allegedly admitted to them that Markus, 75, had pulled Kasaris aside, handed Kasaris a file on Baumgartner and DuBois, allegedly described them as a "problem" that "needed to go away".
Prior to his secret indictment, arrest and incarceration, excessive bail, DuBois had been writing extensively about Judge Markus and other members of the judiciary and prosecutors in northern Ohio. He says he was "assured" by Cuyahoga County Bar Association representatives that judges and prosecutors can't prosecute people "just because they criticize the government".
However, that appears to be exactly what's happening to Dr. Baumgartner and DuBois. Baumgartner faces 10 counts of intimidation and three counts of retaliation, third-degree felonies, and one count of possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony. DuBois faces one count of extortion, two counts of intimidation, one count of retaliation, all third-degree felonies, and one felony count of possession of criminal tools, a computer.
DuBois' charges purportedly relate to a note he allegedly handed former School Superintendent Charles Burns after Burns testified against Baumgartner during a libel trial last year in which Burns had sued Baumgartner. DuBois maintains he can prove that Burns allegedly committed perjury. Baumgartner was indicted on intimidation and retaliation charges for the exercise of free speech rights in challenging the alleged corruption of public officials. She was incarcerated in Cuyahoga County Jail in northern Ohio, spending 10 days of her 24-day confinement in isolation on orders of Kasaris, until Aug. 4 when Judge Shirley Saffold reduced her bond from $360,000 cash only down to $25,000.
DuBois had originally been held on $150,000 bond in Cuyahoga County, apparently at the direction of Kasaris, and an additional $40,000 detainer in Ottawa County. After the Cuyahoga County detainer was reduced to $40,000, he was able to post 10% of each bond or a total of $8,000 to secure his release Wednesday, Aug. 3 and Baumgartner was able to secure her release the following day when her $360,000 bond was reduced to $25,000.
At first, Kasaris stated the Erie Voices website was not a factor in the arrest of the pair. But now he says if the website editor stops writing for the site and stops associating with Baumgartner, he'll reduce the felony charges he brought against him to a misdemeanor.
According to their families, both Baumgartner and DuBois were unlawfully held in solitary confinement, denied access to mail, phone and visitors. Kasaris has admitted that he ordered that former attorney Baumgartner be held in segregation but it is unknown what judge, if any, signed such an order and on whose authority jail officials acted. Kasaris allegedly said he was taking orders from Ottawa County officials who said Elsebeth is a "bad girl" and needs to be put in isolation.
Kasaris has characterized Baumgartner and DuBois as "paper terrorists" for having filing motions and other court papers.
During a court appearance by Baumgartner when she questioned the indictment, Judge Saffold said that she's never seen a prosecutor obtain an indictment because of criticism of a public official. According to court records, Kasaris' only argument in attempting to dismiss Judge Saffold's questions on the validity of the indictment and the cause for it was that "nobody seemed to have a problem with it except her". 11-14-05
June Maxam is the publisher of The North Country Gazette, co-publisher and editor of The Empire Journal and co-managing editor, copy/layout editor of Diogenes, magazine of the National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project.
© 2005 North Country Gazette
