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“When the media becomes too friendly with the government, bad things can happen”.
That’s how indicted Ohio blogger Bryan DuBois of Sandusky felt last September.
Now he’s working with the government in an effort to imprison whistleblower Elsebeth Baumgartner of Oak Harbor, his former business partner and a longtime critic of Ohio government who lost both her license to practice law and her pharmacist’s license for speaking out.
While the government had a vested interest in stifling the freedom of speech and press of Baumgartner and DuBois, it appears that assistant prosecuting attorney Daniel Kasaris of Cuyahoga County, named a special prosecutor in Erie County against Baumgartner, is capitalizing on alleged long simmering jealousy issues of DuBois’ wife, Mandy with Baumgartner, with Kasaris appearing to use Bryan’s wife and children as a wedge in the relationship between Baumgartner and DuBois.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or one who thinks she’s been scorned.
And DuBois is now apparently more intent on cutting a deal with the government than he is in the First Amendment and alleged corruption in northern Ohio.
DuBois, 29, editor of the blog, ErieVoices.com which focused on judicial and political corruption in northern Ohio, and his associate, Dr. Baumgartner, 51, were charged last summer with multiple felonies in a secret indictment obtained by Kasaris whose boss, Cuyahoga county prosecutor Bill Mason and other public officials had been the target of the blog’s allegations.
DuBois has now turned the tables on Baumgartner, agreeing to testify against her at trial on May 10 in exchange for a generous plea deal and the shutting down of the blog which appears to have been the main thrust of northern Ohio prosecutors and judges all along.
According to court records, DuBois will plead guilty to two felony charges and a misdemeanor and avoid jury trials in Ottawa and Cuyahoga Counties. While his sentence could be three years in prison, he’ll be placed on probation in a pre-trial diversion and avoid going to trial at all. A felony count of witness intimidation pending against him in Ottawa County involving Benton-Carroll-Salem school superintendent Charles Burns will be dismissed. As part of the deal, DuBois must write Burns a formal apology.
The Cuyahoga charges against DuBois for allegedly intimidating retired visiting Judge Richard Markus will be dismissed.
Last week, Baumgartner was arraigned on a new indictment of 10 more charges based on complaints of intimidation and retaliation on complaint of her former partner and his wife. In yet another bizarre twist to the case, DuBois is being represented by Jay Milano, an attorney who Baumgartner says was paid in part by her husband to represent DuBois and Erie Voices First Amendment issues. She says the other $10,000 of the reported $25,000 retainer fee paid to Milano to represent DuBois was borrowed on a company credit card on which she is making the payments. She says that in essence she and her husband are paying for DuBois’ attorney to arrange for DuBois to work with the government against her.
DuBois failed to respond to an attempt to interview him for this article and did not respond to Baumgartner’s assertions pertaining to Milano’s fee.
The new charges against Baumgartner as a result of the DuBois’ complaint are 10 counts of intimidation---two felonies and eight misdemeanors, two felony counts of retaliation, one misdemeanor count of falsification and one felony count of possession of criminal tools. The charges relate to alleged postings made to her own blog by Baumgartner, in response to alleged defamatory postings which had been made against her and family while she had been involuntarily committed in December and January.
Sex. corruption, jealousy, greed, revenge, money, intrigue, political espionage—this case has it all.
The Baumgartner case is perhaps one of the most convoluted, retaliatory cases in the nation’s history since Peter Zenger, government pulling out all stops to shut up a whistleblower who’s pointing fingers at alleged abuses of power and corruption in all three branches of government in northern Ohio.
Peter Zenger was a printer, publisher, editor and journalist whose indictment, trial and acquittal on sedition and libel charges against then Governor William Cosby of the New York Colony in 1734 was an important contributing factor to the development of the freedom of the press in America.
Sedition is the “notion of inciting by words or writings disaffection towards the state or constituted authority”. In New Mexico, a state court has ruled that state’s statute for criminal libel unconstitutional and reversed a conviction obtained by the government against a citizen who filed a complaint against a police officer and alleged that he had engaged in criminal activity.
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 retired visiting judge Richard Markus and Chief Judge Thomas Moyer.
Baumgartner teamed up with DuBois in the publication of Erie Voices in 2004, a website that published 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.
After DuBois interviewed Baumgartner for Erie Voices in August, 2004, he began devoting a great deal of the website to her case and causes and thereafter, the business was restructured under Arbor Group LLC with Baumgartner and DuBois as the principals with Baumgartner providing the financial backing.
The day after DuBois as editor of Ohio's Erie Voices sent an email to the Cuyahoga County Commissioners in July, 2005 detailing how Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason and Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter were allegedly exchanging "special prosecutor" appointments on political cases, DuBois and Baumgartner were arrested as the result of a secret indictment.
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.
As a result of the July, 2005 indictment, 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 count of possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony. The tool? A computer.
It is alleged that the pair used emails to intimidate and threaten visiting judge Richard Markus, a judge who had presided in cases involving Baumgartner. In fact, it is alleged that one “threatening email” to Markus was sent in November, 2004, prior to him presiding over that same libel trial. Kasaris said that some of the charges against DuBois stemmed from an email that he allegedly sent to Markus before the libel trial began against Baumgartner. Kasaris labeled the email threatening and said that while it didn’t threaten bodily harm, it threatened the judge’s reputation and on the basis of that, he lodged a charge of extortion against DuBois.
It seems clear the main focus of the charges against both Baumgartner and DuBois were to stifle their speech and press and to quell the voice of ErieVoices.
At a hearing last fall for DuBois, Kasaris reportedly made an offer that he would drop the charges against DuBois to a misdemeanor level if DuBois would agree to three things:
1) Stop writing on www.Erievoices.com, because it “has obviously been taken over by Elsebeth Baumgartner”’;
2) Not associate with Elsebeth Baumgartner for the duration of his probation, which could be up to five years
3) Make a statement regarding Elsebeth Baumgartner’s influence in his writing of the email to Judge Markus on 11/29/2004.
DuBois refused at that time but it appears that on Dec. 12, just five days after he and Baumgartner were scheduled to go to trial on the charges in Cuyahoga County Court before Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, DuBois met with Kasaris and others from the prosecutor’s office with complete immunity and discussed testifying against Baumgartner.
Baumgartner had been removed from the courtroom on Dec. 7, initially jailed for over a week before being sent for a psychiatric evaluation to determine if she was competent to stand trial. Her case was marked closed but upon her release in mid-January following a competency hearing, Saffold set the trial date for March 27.
On Dec. 7, Baumgartner had sought a continuance, producing a doctor’s statement which said she was too mentally distraught to proceed at that time. Saffold ordered Baumgartner admitted to the Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare System for evaluation without hearing and without Baumgartner having legal counsel. Baumgartner then opened her purse and swallowed an unknown quantity of prescription pills which were later determined to be medication for high blood pressure.
She was committed to the Northcoast Behavorial Center in Cleveland for psychiatric review until mid January, deemed competent and released on bail. During the time she was confined, defamatory, disparaging remarks had been posted against her and her family on Erie Voices which were allowed, and perhaps perpetuated, by DuBois and his wife. The new charges appear to be predicated on alleged postings by Baumgartner to the website in response to the earlier postings.
Baumgartner maintains that the new indictment contains the wrong section numbers for the charges alleged, lists no venue and is defective in other ways.
According to Baumgartner and court documents, there appears to have been a long standing jealousy and animosity between Baumgartner and Mandy DuBois with Many DuBois apparently convinced that Baumgartner and DuBois were involved in a sexual relationship. Both Baumgartner and DuBois have denied any such relationship.
In January, 2005, on complaint of his wife, Bryan DuBois was arrested on a domestic violence charge and a felony interference with a 911 call when he allegedly tried to influence his wife into not calling the police. Eventually, the charges were dismissed for failure to prosecute because Ms. DuBois allegedly refused to testify. She then moved out of the marital houseoin the day after Bryan was arraigned on a charge of felony intimidation in Ottawa County and she filed for divorce.
On May 20, 2005, while Baumgartner and DuBois were at a restaurant, police appeared to arrest Baumgartner on an old outstanding warrant for an alleged probation violation from a 2002 conviction for allegedly making false statements about investors in a ferry boat company in which Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter was reportedly involved.
Police said they were acting on a tip. Baumgartner speculates that Mandy DuBois was the tipster, allegedly jealous because her Baumgartner and her husband were together.
Baumgartner was subsequently arrested for not only the probation violation but resisting arrest, felony fleeing and eventually grand theft of an automobile although no complaint of theft was filed by the owner. While the vehicle is titled in the name of Bryan DuBois, Baumgartner says she had made the down payment on the vehicle and it was reportedly a company vehicle, paid for by Arbor Group.
Following Baumgartner’s arrest in Erie County, the DuBoises filed to withdraw the divorce petition although they reportedly continued to live in separate domiciles.
Following his arrest, DuBois, a former Marine who had no previous convictions, was being held in lieu of $190,000 bond in two counties on charges relating to a note he allegedly handed former school superintendent Charles Burns after Burns testified against Baumgartner during a libel trial in late 2005 in which Burns had sued Baumgartner for defamation. DuBois claims that he could prove that Burns had allegedly committed perjury during the trial.
Baumgartner was indicted on intimidation and retaliation charges for the exercise of free speech rights in challenging the alleged corruption of public officials and allegedly intimidating Richard Markus. 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. Baumgartner says she and her family also posted Bryan’s bond on the domestic violence charges in addition to paying for part of the bond on the intimidation/extortion.
At first, Kasaris stated the Erie Voices website was not a factor in the arrest of the pair. But he later said if DuBois stopped writing for the site and stops associating with Baumgartner, he’d reduce the felony charges he brought against him to a misdemeanor.
Had DuBois taken the deal offered last fall, his charges would have been misdemeanors. Now, according to court records, he’ll plead to at least two felony charges.
According to their families, both Baumgartner and DuBois were unlawfully held in solitary confinement, denied access to mail, phone and visitors last summer during their incarceration. 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.
In September, 2005, DuBois conducted an Internet interview with Lady Liberty, an activist from the Midwest who maintains a website of political commentary. http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/05/09/07/ladylib.htm
DuBois said that he had started Erie Voices because “I think that the press is the ultimate check on government---and I’ve heard stories about government powers running wild in Erie and Ottawa Counties because of the lack of accountability forced by the local establishment media. When the media becomes too friendly with government, bad things can happen”.
He said that the purpose of Erie Voices “is to get the stories to the public that go unreported by the local media. This act in itself seems to be revolutionary enough to make me a target of those who have been protected by their friends in the media, in particular, the local prosecutors who pretty much violate the law at will without any repercussions. Much of my 'blog is exposing documentation that proves misconduct in the offices of local prosecutors.
He said at that time that the First Amendment would play a “huge part” of his defense. Apparently now he feels otherwise.
“Even on the technical side of the law, I didn't break any law because the email "threat" was to expose a judge's misconduct. I "threatened" him with an investigation. It's a citizen's duty to report misconduct, but in this situation I'm being charged with a crime for telling a judge that I'll investigate him and publicly report his misconduct. Their position that I broke a law is pretty wacky, but like I said, the local government can do whatever they want if the media and public lets them”.
At that time, DuBois was eager to go to trial with Baumgartner as his co-defendant. “A trial certainly won't be helpful to the plaintiffs. Just the simple fact that I'm exposing misconduct is reason enough to avoid any more publicity, so a trial will actually help us get our story out. By prosecuting me, they're giving me a chance to report in real time how prosecutors act on behalf of the people. As you can see, they're not acting in an honorable manner…… I think that Ohioans should be appalled by this fact because what these government agents are doing is using public resources to silence my criticism of how the same agents are abusing public tax dollars. In other words, they're using your money to shut me up about how they're misusing your money”.
But while he was hot to trot to trial with Baumgartner last September, his case has now been severed from hers, he and his wife signed a sworn affidavit which resulted in a search warrant being executed at the Baumgartner resident and the seizure of Baumgartner’s computers, business records and all documents relating to the operation of Erie Voices. DuBois has shut down the website and he and his wife have agreed to be government witnesses against Baumgartner in a May trial and have caused additional charges to be filed against the former lawyer.
“We all have a duty to speak out against injustice, and that's really all I've done. I think Dr. Baumgartner has suffered a whole lot more than me, and I kind of knew they'd come after me if I put her horror story out there” DuBois said in the interview last fall. “She's already spent 260 days in jail, and I think it's pretty obvious that they're not going to break her. I owe a lot to her leadership and strength in the face of all this corruption.
“Elsebeth and I are pretty much of the same mind: We can achieve change peacefully by guiding public opinion and holding our government officials responsible despite what they do to us. If we achieve accountability in the end, then yes: It's worth it”.
When asked ideally what would be the best possible outcome of the case, DuBois answered, “Absolute outrage from the rest of the country. Dr. Baumgartner has taught me a lot about thinking on a large scale and to see the potential for what we're creating with Erie Voices. I hope that freedom lovers can see that 'blogs can turn this country around - level the playing field despite corporate control of major media. It's important that other 'bloggers see that potential and, instead of concentrating on national issues, they turn their writing and investigatory skills to the local scene and rebuild the country from the inside out. I'm excited about what could happen with my case, and with some support, we could turn seven felony charges into something very positive, so that's what I'm hoping to do”.
Three months later in December, DuBois severed all ties with Baumgartner, apparently pushed by the government and his wife to do so, and in February, removed the website from the Internet although the domain name is registered in the name of Arbor Group of which Baumgartner was and is a principal”. 4-13-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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