|
Justice denied.
Former attorney Elsebeth Baumgartner of Oak Harbor, Ohio, has been sitting in Erie County Jail for 19 days since Aug. 21 after retired visiting court judge Richard Knepper, who had already disqualified himself from her case, jailed her.
Knepper ruled that she had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, revoking her bond in a case in which she's been charged with stealing the corporate vehicle owned by her internet news publication, Erie Voices which she financed.
Except for one thing---she hadn't been criminally charged with UPL.
Her bond was revoked by Knepper without any hearing, without any accusatory instrument.
Elsebeth Baumgartner has been illegally incarcerated in Erie County Jail since Aug. 21 and unbelievably, the appeals court has refused to hear the habeas corpus petition.
Erie County, as Cuyahoga and Ottawa Counties, is attempting to criminalize the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and expression and the judges, who she has criticized and blown the whistle on, are unconstitutionally and unlawfully retaliating against her, denying her access to the courts and any semblance of justice. She has been denied a fair trial at virtually every stage.
She has become a political prisoner in northern Ohio.
All criminal actions now pending against Elsebeth Baumgartner should be immediately removed from northern Ohio and its judicial system.
Her liberty was stripped from her without a bond hearing.
No formal charges had been filed against her.
There are still no charges filed against her.
No arraignment.
No hearing or trial.
No legal counsel.
Baumgartner wasn't even allowed inside the courtroom.
The special prosecutor in Baumgartner's case, Daniel Kasaris, wasn't even present.
So far, the transcripts of the proceeding aren't yet available, which is highly unusual.
Kasaris had tried to revoke Baumgartner's bond on Aug. 18, raising two issues, one of which was a verbal allegation that Baumgartner had given an inmate she had met during her contempt incarceration legal advice. Knepper had refused to revoke Baumgartner's bond on Aug. 18, saying that he wasn't interested in hearing allegations of UPL and that Baumgartner had done nothing wrong by attending a creditor's hearing for the bankruptcy filed by Baumgartner's former business partner and his wife. Knepper had then disqualified himself in the case.
As she left that hearing, she was handed a subpoena to appear for a hearing Monday, Aug. 21 for the inmate she had allegedly given legal advice. She appeared as ordered but was never called to give testimony and remained in the hallway, sequestered. Knepper ordered her incarcerated after engaging in a tirade from the bench.
In an exclusive interview with The North Country Gazette Thursday, Baumgartner said that several corrections officers at the Erie County Jail have made comments to her indicating that her life may be in danger because various officials reportedly don't want her case to go before a jury.
According to her husband, Joe, he is being limited to one visit a week at the jail and she has been restricted in the number of phone calls. She said that she has been disconnected while speaking with her attorney.
People who wish to try to insure Baumgartner's safety and to bring the issue to the attention of the mainstream media and others should contact Ohio legislators, state and federal representatives, Ohio newspapers, radio and television stations and other members of the media including talk show radio hosts.
Baumgartner remained in good spirits Thursday, saying that her faith in God was helping her cope.
A trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday, Sept. 5 in Erie County Common Pleas Court on charges of grand theft auto, felony fleeing and resisting arrest, charges brought against Baumgartner last May. But although Knepper recused himself from her case initially on Aug. 18 and then again Aug. 21 after he incarcerated her following his rant, admitting to a Sandusky Register reporter that he had "lost it", so far there has been no new judge assigned to the case so that motions can be filed or hearings held.
When Baumgartner's retained attorney, Loretta Riddle of the Donald Harris Law Firm of Sandusky filed a petition on Thursday, Aug. 31, for a writ of habeas corpus for Baumgartner's release because she has been denied due process, the Sixth District Court refused to hear it.
Riddle was unavailable for comment Thursday, according to her office who said she would be in court all day. On Thursday, Riddle told the NCG she had never seen a case like Baumgartner's and it was a clear cut case of denial of due process.
Baumgartner said it was obvious that special prosecutor Daniel Kasaris and the judicial system was trying to keep her incarcerated so that she would have no way to prepare for the upcoming trial in Cuyahoga County and so that she would be forced to appear at trial in shackles and a jail uniform, yet another attempt at mental abuse and to attempt to prejudice her before the jury.
Baumgartner has undergone numerous court-ordered psychiatric evaluations and been ruled competent each time, with the doctors finding only that she was suffering from intense stress caused by the legal abuse by the prosecutors and judges in the case.
Knepper is the same judge who sentenced Baumgartner to jail for 45 days on June 1 in the car theft case, finding her in contempt during a closed door conference for which Baumgartner was denied legal counsel. Although court was not officially in session and no one was allowed in the room except for Knepper, special prosecutor Daniel Kasaris, Baumgarnter and Judge Tygh Tone who entered through a back door and sat in the jury box, Knepper found that Baumgartner had talked too much and ordered her incarcerated. Tone has no role in the case, having previously disqualified himself from Baumgartner cases, admitting a conflict of interest.
When Baumgartner filed for a bond hearing and filed a notice of appeal on the contempt conviction, the Sixth District Court refused to hear the appeal. The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the first right of appeal in a criminal matter.
She has appealed the denial of her Sixth Amendment rights to the Ohio Supreme Court but to date, the case has not been docketed to be heard.
Baumgartner has been totally denied her due process rights in the Ohio Court System and is essentially a political prisoner, much the same as the terrorist suspects which were being held secretively by the U.S. and the CIA, which are now being transferred to Guantanomo Bay. While the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals was found to violate U.S. and international law, the tactics and practices being used to detain Elsebeth Baumgartner are unconstitutional and unlawful.
Kasaris says that Baumgartner is a paper terrorist because she has tried to file legal documents and appeals in her case, a right afforded her by the Constitution.
What's happening to Elsebeth Baumgartner could happen to you.
Judges and prosecutors are using the legal system and their power and position to retaliate against Baumgartner for exposing massive corruption that she has uncovered in government and in particular, the Ohio judiciary. An all out effort has been made to discredit her, dehumanize her and attempt to subdue her into submission.
It all began as simply expressing her opinion at a city council meeting, an act clearly protected by the First Amendment, speaking at a public hearing and questioning how a public officer, and in particular Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter, could have a financial interest in a contract before the council. Although there was no sworn testimony and it was simply a matter of a taxpayer expressing her concerns at a public hearing designed expressly for that purpose, Baumgartner was arrested and charged with falsification, ultimately convicted by an assistant prosecutor of Baxter's office who brought the complaint.
Since then, the matter has snowballed with the personal disputes of prosecutors and judges such as Baxter, Markus, Knepper and Ottawa County prosecutor Mark Mulligan being criminalized with them then using their offices and friends in the court to attempt to stifle Baumgartner. While they're claiming that her opinions and allegations against them are false, rather than bring a defamation suit against her, they are attempting to criminalize freedom of speech. In a libel and defamation suit, truth is the best defense and apparently the officials don't want to chance Baumgartner laying all her facts on the table for the public to see.
Although the case docket is marked closed, The North Country Gazette has learned that Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and Kasaris plan on going forward with a trial in Cuyahoga County Court on Wednesday, Sept. 13 on a panoply of charges for which retired visiting judge Richard Markus is the complainant of some; Bryan and Mandy DuBois, Baumgartner's former business partner and his wife, as the complainants in other charges.
Although attorney Jeffry Kelleher has been assigned by the court to represent Baumgartner, she says he hasn't spoken with her in weeks and hasn't discussed the case with her. Although numerous motions have been filed with Saffold including a suppression motion, to date Safford has not ruled on any of the motions.
According to the docket, numerous subpoenas have been served in the case. The docket also shows that a motion has been filed to join the DuBois complaint with the Judge Markus complaint, a highly prejudicial move which Baumgartner says she strongly opposes. She said Kelleher did not discuss this with her and that she would not have approved it.
Baumgartner has requested that Saffold recuse herself for adjudicating the charges which Saffold has refused to do. Baumgartner says that she has tried to retain numerous attorneys to replace the court-assigned Kelleher because she feels that he's working against her rather than representing her but she says attorneys have refused to take the case as long as Saffold remains on the case.
To read more about the Baumgartner case, go to www.northcountrygazette.org, click on the site map and enter Baumgartner.
Contact information for various organizations and individuals is as follows:
Contact information:
Gov. Bob Taft
Email: http://governor.ohio.gov/contactinfopage.asp
Phone 614-466-3555
Fax 614-752-4858;
Attorney General
Email: http://www.ag.state.oh.us/contact/contact.htm
Phone 614-466-4320
Ohio Civil Rights Commission
mailto:mikom@ocrc.state.oh.us
Phone 614-466-2785
Inspector General
Email: oig_watchdog@oig.state.oh.us
Phone: 614-644-9110
Fax: 614-644-3744
Investigative Unit
Email: mkindle@dps.state.oh.us
Phone: 614-644-2415
Fax: 614-644-2463
Ohio Judicial Conference
Phone: 614-387-9750, 800-282-1510
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office
Email: masonccpo@aol.com
Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold
Phone: 216-443-8735
Fax 216-348-4033
Staff Attorney
Phone: 216-443-8577
Kevin Baxter, Erie County Prosecutor
Email: prosecutor@erie-county-ohio.net
Phone: 419-627-7697
Fax 419-627-7567
American Center for Law and Justice
Phone: 757-226-2489
Fax: 757-226-2836
Radio call in from 12-12:30 pm EST/EDT 1-800-684-3110
Ohio American Civil Liberties Union
contact@acluohio.org
Phone: 216-472-2200
Fax: 216-472-2210
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Phone: 202-514-3204
Fax: 202-616-0372 9-07-06
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed by anyone without the express written permission of the publisher. This article is copyright protected and Fair Use is not applicable.
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
