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SANDUSKY, OHIO---It's common knowledge in northern Ohio that Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter is, in common laymen's terms, out to get Elsebeth Baumgartner for her charges of corruption and wrongdoing against himself and other judicial and legal officers in northern Ohio.
It's a gross abuse of public office.
Baxter has openly admitted his conflicts of interest involving Baumgartner and although he has in the past disqualified himself from prosecuting her in Erie County, he's violated state statutes and ethics laws by then handpicking her persecutor, er…prosecutor, choosing Daniel Kasaris who was a former assistant in Baxter's office and is now an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cuyahoga County.
Kasaris is prosecuting Baumgartner on charges of intimidation and retaliation for sending e-mail messages to retired visiting judge Richard Markus, asking him to do his job properly, criticizing his past judicial performances and accusing him of being corrupt.
Not only is the statute overbroad and vague, but an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech, you know, the Constitution.
And Kasaris has stepped over the lines of fair play way too many times, decimating the former Oak Harbor attorney's constitutional rights.
Last week Baxter and Kasaris unsuccessfully tried to revoke Baumgartner's bond and jail her for attending a public court proceeding.
Baxter and his buddies have already claimed that she violated her probation on a charge directly related to Baxter's alleged corruption because---are you ready----she tried to enter the courthouse to use the court library that's open to the public.
But then these are the same jokers who charged her with having a criminal tool---a computer.
Baxter and his boys issued a warrant for her arrest and then charged her with grand theft for driving her own corporate vehicle, one that she financed. Now Baxter and Kasaris have a huge problem because their star witnesses in their attempt to get Baumgartner have a slight credibility problem----seems that there's allegations of bankruptcy fraud, underreporting income and assets by these witnesses, Baumgartner's former business partner Bryan DuBois and his wife, Mandy. They could be looking at federal charges and perhaps Baxter and Kasaris should be charged right along with them for conspiracy.
When The North Country Gazette uncovered that Mandy DuBois hadn't disclosed her job at the Erie County Health Department and called the county agency to verify her employment, the health commissioner ran straight to Baxter. It appears to us instead of the state prosecuting Baumgartner, it's Baxter and Kasaris who should be on trial for retaliating against Baumgartner and trying to intimidate her into submission.
It's obvious that Baxter and the boys can control the press in northern Ohio, but they can't control the press in New York. It's extremely telltale that neither the Sandusky Register or the Port Clinton News Herald reported on Kasaris' failed attempt to jail Baumgarter or of Judge Richard Knepper's recusal from the grand theft case.
Baxter's latest attack on Baumgartner is claiming that she's practicing law without a license, speculating that she helped a woman in jail file a motion which alleges prosecutorial misconduct in the Erie County office of Kevin Baxter. Surprise, surprise. Seems to be a lot of that and there seems to be increasing evidence that all is not proper in that office.
Baumgartner has been called to a hearing Monday to answer the charges being lodged against her by Baxter, a misdemeanor for the unlicensed practice of law.
It's way past time for an state ordered investigation into the office of Kevin Baxter on a lot of different fronts, not only his involvement in malicious prosecution of Baumgartner but for his handling of the election rigging case in Cuyahoga County, the Krista Harris case and now the Elizabeth S. Ohlemacher case.
Ohlemacher is accused of stealing a baby and forging of birth certificate for a non-existent baby.
She's filed a motion seeking sanctions against Baxter's assistant prosecutor, Sandy Rubino, accusing Rubino of covering up alleged sexual misconduct by Baxter and Perkins police Detective Sgt. James A. Jenkins.
When still authorized to practice law, Baumgartner represented Krista Harris, an African-American woman from Sandusky who was allegedly sexually enslaved by Baxter for nearly five years under threat of false criminal charges. While Harris was making her allegations about Baxter public, Baumgartner also made public allegations against Baxter based on sworn affidavits from eyewitnesses who claimed to have knowledge of Baxter's alleged involvement with organized crime. Baumgartner claimed that Baxter was unlawfully employing state and federal grants in his operation of his ferry boat company, Island Express Boat Lines. It has also been alleged that the ferry boats are being used for drug trafficking.
Instead of authorities opening an investigation into Baxter, attempts were made to discredit Baumgartner, repeatedly piling retaliatory criminal charges upon her for the exercise of her free speech rights in having the courage to openly criticize and challenge Baxter and others. She was disbarred, charged with falsification, retaliation and intimidation for the express purpose of getting even with her and to try and convince the public that her witnesses and evidence were the ones that are wrong, not Baxter and the rest of the good 'ole boys.
But the evidence against Baxter is compounding. It can't be ignored much longer.
In most circles, Baxter's use of his office to harass Baumgartner in an abuse of process is called abuse of power. A person who abuses process is interested only in accomplishing some improper purpose that is collateral to the proper object of the process and that offends justice, such as an unjustified arrest and an unfounded criminal prosecution. A perfect example of abuse of power and process is Kevin Baxter and the use of his position to try to demoralize and annihilate his nemesis, Elsebeth Baumgartner.
Considering the well known animosity and conflict of interest of Baxter towards Baumgartner, Gov. Bob Taft should immediately appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Baxter and his office including special prosecutor Daniel Kasaris.
There's just too much smoke in Baxter's office for there not to be some truth to all of the allegations that are coming forth about him.
Rubino, Baxter and Kasaris continue to maintain that Baumgartner is prohibited from filing motions in her own criminal cases because she has been labeled a "vexatious litigator". However, that statute is applicable only to civil matters.
Baxter and his cronies in adjoining Cuyahoga and Ottawa Counties have tried to do everything possible to dehumanize, discourage and discredit Baumgartner.
She's been incarcerated nearly 300 days for miscellaneous charges, found in contempt, subjected to competency hearings which she passes time after time. It's pure harassment by Baxter, Kasaris and the state, under color of law and in an egregious violation of Baumgartner's constitutionals rights---the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
With Baxter's key witnesses the DuBoises now in a precarious position which could bring down Baxter and Kasaris and others involved, Judge Richard Knepper quickly exited the Baumgartner persecution by recusing himself.
It's time for the U.S. Department of justice to step into the case.
Earlier in the week, believe it or not, Judge Richard Markus granted Baumgartner permission to file suit against the Port Clinton News Herald, its managing editor and Ottawa County prosecutor Mark Mulligan for libel.
Baumgartner's claim filed in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court. alleges that Mulligan made libelous and defamatory comments against her last Aug. 6 which were published by the Herald.
Mulligan prosecuted Baumgartner in 34 charges of criminal contempt brought against her by Judge Markus and when Baumgartner filed a motion for dismissal of the charges, Mulligan called the filing the "chaotic ramblings of a disturbed person".
Baumgartner says that Mulligan implies that she suffers from mental illness which is untrue. She has been subjected to seven competency evaluations and numerous mental health practitioners have determined that she is not mentally disturbed.
Although the trial concluded in April, visiting judge David Faulkner has never rendered a verdict. 8-20-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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