North Country Gazette

Witness Claim Of Prosecutorial Sex Spawns New Trial

Posted on Wednesday, 11 of November , 2009 at 7:03 pm

© By June Maxam

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No Reprints Allowed

ERIE COUNTY, OHIO—In what could be the most serious allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the U.S. since the actions of former Durham district attorney Mike Nifong in withholding crucial DNA evidence in the now infamous Duke lacrosse case, a federal court has ruled that a man now serving life in prison for murder should get a new trial because of a non-consensual sexual relationship of Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter had with a key prosecution witness.

Dewitt McDonald, 45, has been imprisoned for the past 14 years in the Lebanon Correctional Facility for his role in the 1994 death of Vivian Johnson in Sandusky, Ohio who was killed by a stray bullet while sitting in her car.

On Friday, Nov. 6, a federal magistrate in the Northern District of Ohio recommended that the federal court order a writ of habeas corpus, concluding that Baxter had a prior relationship with Krista Harris who had initially testified for the prosecution at trial but later in 2001 recanted her testimony, saying that she had been coerced to testify against McDonald by Baxter who had threatened to bring criminal charges against her if she didn’t testify for the prosecution to gain McDonald’s conviction.

Continued at http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/11/13/sex_slave/

Sign the Petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/915375449

Read the affidavits of Krista Harris and EJ Baxter and see the check signed by Kevin Baxter from his prosecutor’s account to pay for a U-Haul rented to help Krista Harris move.

http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/prosecutor/pdf/intersum_eb_1031.pdf

http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/prosecutor/pdf/affidavit_kh.pdf

http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/prosecutor/pdf/copy_ck_lbms.pdf

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Category: Constitution, Courts, Crime, Government, Ohio

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