Originally Posted - September 17, 2006

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SANDUSKY, OHIO---How far will the State of Ohio go in violating the constitutional rights of disbarred Oak Harbor attorney Elsebeth Baumgartner?

As she enters Day 28 of being incarcerated in the Erie County Jail for the allegedly unauthorized practice of law but without having been charged and the Sixth District Court has so far stonewalled her petition for a writ of habeas corpus, she's taken part of the case into the federal courts.

A civil rights action against the State of Ohio, retired visiting judge Richard Markus and assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Daniel Kasaris was filed on behalf of Baumgartner Tuesday, Sept. 12 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Baumgartner has been caught in what is known in some circles as the "litigation vortex" and legal abuse syndrome.

Karen Huffer, a long-time marriage and family law counselor, has written a book entitled "Legal Abuse Syndrome", a form of post traumatic stress disorder, which often develops in individuals dealing with abusive court settings. Abuse of authority and a profound lack of accountability in the court system has become rampant, Huffer says, which adds greatly to the original distress requiring court assistance in the first place.

The Center for Judicial Accountability says that a central point of Ms. Huffer's book is that victims in America are not only assaulted by crime, but also by the abuses of power and authority administered by tax dollars intended to provide due process of law for the protection of civil rights.
http://www.judicialaccountability.org/legalabuse.htm

Baumgartner became entrapped in the legal system beginning in 2001 when she first stood up at a city council meeting on the lakeshore of Northern Ohio and voiced her concerns about a proposed contract with a ferry boat company owned in at least part by Kevin Baxter, Erie County prosecutor.

Baxter claimed that statements that Baumgartner made about him in the forum of a public hearing were false but instead of bringing a civil action against Baumgartner for defamation or slander, he used his position as prosecutor to have her charged criminally with falsification. The more Baumgartner attempts to exercise her constitutional rights, especially free speech rights under the First Amendment, the more her due process rights appear to be violated. She's been denied hearings, legal counsel, her right to testify before a Grand Jury, copies of legal documents and denied her right to appeal criminal convictions because retired visiting judge Richard Markus, who questionably should even be exercising judicial functions being well past the mandatory retirement age for judges among other issues, has declared Baumgartner a vexatious litigator.

Baumgartner's federal action is brought for violations of constitutional rights as well as conspiracy and extortion under color of law due to what she labels as the filing of a sham indictment for the purposes of muzzling her as she attempted to conduct her business as an investigative journalist, reporting on alleged case fixing in the state courts of Ohio and manipulation of judicial and special prosecutor appointments.

Baumgartner is a former attorney and general manger of Arbor Group Company LLC doing business as erievoices.com, an internet-based investigative journal focused on judicial corruption in Ohio.

Markus is employed as a retiring visiting judge by the Ohio Supreme Court in Columbus, Ohio. He is also president of Private Judicial Services Inc., a private "rent-a-judge" company which he operates from his home in Fairview Park, Ohio.

Daniel Kasaris, formerly known as Daniel Rydarowicz, is a resident of North Royalton, Ohio and is employed full time as an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor. He also functions with contract as a special prosecutor in Erie County, Oho.

According to the complaint filed, on or about Jan. 24, 2004, Markus appeared for a pre-trial in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court in two cases, one being Mark Mullivan v. Elsebeth Baumgartner and one against Joseph Baumgartner, claiming he had been appointed as a retired visiting judge to the case by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. Baumgartner challenged his appointment due to his alleged failure to meet constitutional and statutory requirements concerning age, oath and bond, and the lack of appointment existing in the court records.

Mulligan is prosecutor for Ottawa County.

Markus ignored her objections and proceeded with the the pre-trial without a record despite the fact that all prior pre-trials in the contentious litigation had been recorded. After the pre-trial, Markus admitted no appointment was part of the record. During the pre-trial, he denied the Baumgartners jury trials and consolidated the cases over the objections of counsel.

On about Jan. 26, 2004, Baumgartner was arrested and allegedly beaten by two Erie County deputy sheriffs in the foyer of the Erie County Courthouse. She was charged with criminal trespass, persistent disorderly conduct, and two counts of resisting arrest for entering the courthouse during regular business hours to conduct research. The charges were dismissed on Nov. 23, 2004, by Sandusky Municipal Court Judge Erick O'Brien.

On Jan. 30, 2004, Ottawa County Municipal Court visiting judge John Adkins issued a bench warrant for her arrest for an alleged probation violation, unsupported by probable cause regarding the Erie County charges. Chief Deputy Bob Bratton advised Baumgartner's husband that as had occurred previously to Baumgartner in other charges from which the probation emanated, the court had ordered no bond and was refusing to schedule a hearing for the alleged probation violation.

On about March 22, 2004, Markus tried Baumgartner in absentia and declared her to be a vexatious litigator because she had filed a lawsuit as an attorney against Ottawa County prosecutor Mark Mulligan for alleged intimidation and libel. That case was not allowed to be heard. Following a bench trial on the probation violation case, Markus granted Baumgartner's counsel leave to withdraw without notice.

On about March 23, 2004, she filed a federal lawsuit in the southern district of Florida against Markus and several Ottawa County public officials as well as Benton-Carroll-Salem school officials for the cases against her and her husband being heard by Markus. She alleged extortion under color of law due to the abuse of the courts to protect thefts of public resources, substantial abuse and/or crimes of violence against women, children and minorities.

On about May 10, 2004, Markus, without a pre-trial, dismissed Baumgartner's lawsuits for assault, intimidation and libel but allowed counterclaims against Baumgartner made by white male public officials and attorneys to proceed.

On about May 15, 2004, she filed an affidavit of bias and disqualification against Markus, citing his refusal to disclose clients of his private judging company, violations of her constitutional rights, failure to comply with Ohio law and favoritism of white male public officials and attorneys.

On about May 22, 2004, Markus held a pre-trial without Baumgartner and her co-defendant's counsel.

In June 2004, Baumgartner repeatedly contacted Markus regarding the failure of her former counsel, whom Markus had allowed to withdraw without notice to his clients Baumgartner and Cleveland Geomics Inc., to return case files. Baumgartner also informed Markus of harassing emails and other communications she said she was receiving from attorneys Steven Mosier and Dan Mason. She also informed Markus of the appearance of alleged insurance fraud in the cases as well as the alleged protection of child sexual abuse by Ottawa County court officers.

She says Markus never reported the alleged misconduct and would later claim that her communications to him complaining of his failure to monitor court officials' conduct constituted intimidation, a felony of the third degree, by Baumgartner.

In July 2004, Markus denied Baumgartner a jury trial in the cases pending against her by Mulligan.

In July 2004, she met Bryan DuBois of Sandusky, Ohio online and together they launched www.erievoices.blogspot.com which evolved to erievoices.com. The website published commentary and investigative reports concerning government corruption in particular alleged judicial, prosecutorial and attorney misconduct in northern Ohio lakeshore counties. The site would publish documents from Baumgartner's court cases to demonstrate alleged judicial misconduct.

On about Aug. 8, 2004, Markus awarded former Benton-Carroll-Salem Superintendent and attorney Charles Burns $115,000 in damages for libel in a case brought by Burns against Baumgartner due to her complaints concerning Burns' alleged thefts in office, alleged falsification of credentials and harassment of her daughter. Baumgartner said that Burns allegedly used school legal counsel who allegedly wrongly billed the school's insurance company to prosecute his claim. Markus awarded Burns' the judgment after one hour of testimony by Burns in a "trial" which Baumgartner refused to attend due to the fact a pre-trial in another of her cases was scheduled for the same day in Florida, and the fact that Markus had allegedly entered extensive false facts into the record previously.

On about Sept. 3, 2004, she said she learned of a pre-trial set by Markus. She requested to attend this hearing by phone due to the fact that she was evacuating her home in Florida due to a hurricane and was stranded in Georgia. Markus denied her request and all subsequent efforts to schedule any discovery from counterclaimant Kellen Smith.

On Nov. 24, 2004, Bryan DuBois and Joe Baumgartner tried to file a motion to quash the still outstanding bench warrant for an alleged probation violation in Ottawa County Municipal Court. They were denied access to the court and threatened with arrest. Court officials explained that Markus along with Ottawa County prosecutor Mark Mulligan had instructed the court to forbid Elsebeth Baumgartner from filing any documents in her own defense of criminal charges due to her being labeled a vexatious litigator by Markus.

She then contacted Markus by telephone, beseeching him to protect her from intimidation from the sham bench warrant for the alleged probation violation which was preventing her from defending herself in the civil cases. Markus taunted her by stating that she "needed to learn her place and not criticize public officials".

She requested a protective order so she could attend the scheduled trial before Markus without feel of arrest which Markus refused to grant until the third day of trial despite what she says are clear requirements in the Ohio Revised Code.

On Nov. 30, 2004, Baumgartner refiled her federal lawsuits in the U.S. District court for the Northern District of Ohio. The lawsuits had been dismissed without prejudice by the Florida U.S. District Court. She provided Markus notice of the federal lawsuit by filing a copy with the Ottawa county common Pleas Court. Later, she says Markus and Kasaris would falsely claim that she had served Markus by email and that the two federal lawsuits contained false statements justifying indicting Baumgartner for felony intimidation and retaliation in Cuyahoga county, Ohio.

On Dec. 1, 2004, Bryan DuBois appeared at trial in Kelly Smith v. Elsebeth Baumgartner and Cleveland Genomics Inc. to report on the proceedings for Erie Voices and to act as Baumgartner's courier. DuBois claimed he had knowledge that Charles Burns had allegedly entered perjured testimony in the case and handed him a note after his testimony suggesting DuBois knew Burns had allegedly lied under oath. Prior to this, on Nov. 29, 2004, DuBois had emailed Markus and informed him that he intended to report on the proceedings and that his review of the case indicated that Markus was corrupt and intended to throw the case to Smith.

DuBois was forced into chambers with Markus, counsel for Cleveland Genomics Inc. and Steve Mosier, counsel for Kellen Smith who was demanding that DuBois be criminally charged for passing the note to Burns and reporting alleged perjury. Markus suggested DuBois remain quiet but did nothing about the alleged perjury. In February 2005, DuBois was charged with felony intimidation for the note by Ottawa County prosecutor Mulligan and later for felony retaliation for publishing purported proof on Erie Voices that Burns had allegedly committed perjury and theft in office.

On Dec. 2, 2004, DuBois' wife, Mandy DuBois, reported from the court that Markus was entering what was characterized as incompetent and irrelevant evidence and allegedly lying about his granting a protection order to Baumgartner when in fact he had not.

On Dec. 3, 2004, Baumgartner appeared as a witness for Cleveland Genomics Inc. and Markus dismissed the case against Cleveland Genomics prior to cross examination of Kellen Smith. Just prior to her appearance, she filed an extensive affidavit in support of a motion to show cause which she says laid out over two years of harassment by Ottawa County pubic officials and school officials to prevent exposure of their alleged crimes. Markus stopped court and badgered Baumgartner for nearly 15 minutes in a display which she says was characterized by a 30-year court officer, now retired, as the worse display of judicial abuse he'd ever witnessed.

On about Dec. 10, 2004, Markus award $175,000 in damages to Kellen Smith. On the same date, Markus cited Baumgartner for 32 "citations", not sworn charges of indirect criminal contempt of court statements made in Baumgartner's pleadings dating back to early 2004.

On about Dec. 21, 2004, Markus allegedly contacted Kasaris seeking to have Baumgartner indicted by intimidation in Cuyahoga County due to her emails sent to him in his office as an Ottawa County Common Pleas Court judge. Importantly, Baumgartner says, Markus did not seek to have her indicted for the 32 separate allegedly false statements that she allegedly filed in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court which Markus sought to have her punished as contempt.

Markus had access to Kasaris because he was presiding over high profile gambling cases involving alleged organized crime figure Charles Colombo and several bars in Kasaris' resident community of North Royalton, Baumgartner says.

Baumgartner says that according to Mandy DuBois, Kasaris told her that Markus promised him political favors in exchange for his assistance in "handling" the problem of Erie Voices and Bryan DuBois and Elsebeth Baumgartner.

Baumgartner says the court record reveals that Markus and Kasaris allowed all defendants in the gambling cases to plea to misdemeanors from serious F-1 charges for racketeering in exchange for extensive financial payments to Kasaris' employer and North Royalton police.

On about March 7, 2004, Markus awarded over $26,000 in sanctions for allegedly fraudulent legal fees against Baumgartner's husband Joseph Baumgartner even though Joseph Baumgartner had not been a party to the case since August 2002, according to Baumgartner. Markus then allegedly sealed the legal fees so that the alleged fraud could not be detected. Smith sought sanctions from Joe Baumgartner due to the filing of a Chapter 13 petition.

In about April 2005, Baumgartner and Bryan DuBois agreed to form a limited liability company to hold the title to www.erievoices.com. Baumgartner is general manager of Arbor Group Company LLC, registered in Ohio as Arbor Group dba Erie voices.com and Bryan DuBois, Joseph Baumgartner and Jessice Baumgartner are its members. DuBois received $850 per week to serve as writer, editor and assistant to Baumgartner. Baumgartner, her family and businesses she controlled were Arbor Group's clients and financial supporters. This included providing Mr. DuBois with 2005 Kia Sportage, according to Baumgartner.

On May 20, 2005, she was arrested after a controlled chase for the alleged probation violation. Ultimately she served 13 days for the alleged probation violation and then was indicted by Kasaris in Erie County, Ohio for grand theft auto of Bryan DuBois' company paid vehicle, felony fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest and failure to obey. Baumgartner says Kasaris sought $150,000 bond and to declare Baumgartner crazy due to her beliefs that cases are manipulated to protect corrupt activity in some cases.

In June 2005, DuBois and Baumgartner published extensively at erievoices.com concerning Kasaris and Markus and alleged case fixing. The website published comments from DuBois that Baumgartner had authority to use the company vehicle to avoid an unlawful arrest and from Ohio Highway patrol claiming Baumgartner committed no crimes during the pursuit. Nevertheless, Baumgartner says that Kasaris continues to prosecute her without having filed a bond, oath of office or contract as special prosecutor in Erie County while employed full time by Cuyahoga County.

On about June 27, 2005, DuBois filed a grievance with the Cuyahoga County Bar Association about reports from his wife that Markus and Kasaris intended to indict him for publishing critical commentary concerning retired visiting judges and prosecutors in Cuyahoga, Erie and Ottawa Counties.

On about June 28, 2005, DuBois sent an email to the Cuyahoga County commissioners concerning the appearance that Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter and Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason were exchanging cases allegedly in order to fix outcomes. He also complained about the potential case fixing via retired visiting judges such as Judtg Markus. He included several links to Erie Voices stories reporting on evidence of corruption involving their employees, Markus and Kasaris.

On June 29, 2005, Kasaris created a case information sheet against Bryan DuBois and Elsebeth Baumgartner claiming their emails critical of Markus were serious crimes. Importantly, Kasaris claimed a Cuyahoga County sheriff detective investigated the crimes but court records reveal that the case was presented to the Grand Jury the next day without any investigation, according to Baumgartner.

On June 30, 2005, Markus testified for about an hour and Kasaris obtained a 21-count indictment against Baumgartner and DuBois. Markus billed the State of Ohio and Ottawa County for his testimony in Cuyahoga county claiming he was acting as a judge in a Baumgartner case in Ottawa County, she says.

Neither Baumgartner or DuBois were afforded their right to testify before the grand jury, according to Baumgartner.

On July 1, 2005, Kasaris allegedly approached administrative judge Richard McMonagle and requested he set a $360,000 cash only bond on Baumgartner. The indictment was never returned to the court but held by Kasaris until July 11, 2005, when he finally filed it with the clerk, she says.

On July 11, 2005, Baumgartner and DuBois served the state of Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft, chief justice Thomas Moyer and Attorney General James Petro on a federal lawsuit alleging "pay to play" in the courts of Ohio via manipulation of judicial and special prosecutor appointments, misuse of the attorney discipline process and the appearance of patronage for pre-determined outcomes.

Within an hour after serving Moyer, McMonagle issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Baumgartner and DuBois on the secret indictment in Cuyahoga County alleging emails sent to Markus criticizing his performance as an Ottawa County judge was felony intimidation and retaliation and extortion.

On July 12, 2005 Baumgartner and DuBoise were arrested at the office of Erie Voices in Oak Harbor, Ohio and the Ottawa County Courthouse respectively.

On July 13, 2005, Baumgartner and DuBois appeared for a hearing in Ottawa County Municipal Court and the court could not produce an indictment and refused to set bond.

At approximately 12:15 a.m. on July 14, 2005, Baumgartner arrived at the Cuyahoga County Jail and was thrown into the "hole", reportedly on orders of Kasaris, because she was a "paper terrorist". She was denied access to phones, legal counsel, clergy, visitors, association with other inmates and use the law library, Baumgartner says.

On July 15, 2005, she was taken by what she calls jail "men in black" , the high security detail, provided a copy of the purported indictment and placed in a video room with a public defender despite her objections. The public defender waived her rights at arraignment until she stopped her and insisted that she had a right to speak, she says. Baumgartner argued for a reduced bond claiming the indictment was retaliation for reporting case fixing involving the offices of Erie County prosecutor Baxter and Cuyahoga County prosecutor Mason in conjunction with some judges to allegedly protect organized criminal activity in northern Ohio. Judge Peter Corrigan denied Baumgartner's request for bond reduction and barred her husband from the arraignment. The statements were televised by TV 3.

On July 27, 2005, Baumgartner appeared for pre-trial before Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold. She was found competent to represent herself but then referred at the request of Kasaris for a psychological evaluation. She claims this ploy by Kasaris to claim that was incompetent to stand trial was done in order to toll speedy trial.

On about July 28, 2005, she says Markus and Kasaris arranged to serve Baumgartner at the Cuyahoga County Jail with 34 unsworn citations seeking to hold her in contempt of court for her writings in her defense in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court. These were the same citations thrown out by retired visiting judge David Faulkner as improperly filed in June 2005, she says.

On Aug. 4, 2005, Judge Saffold reduced Baumgartner's bond to $25,000 surety and she was released from the Cuyahoga County Jail.

On about Aug. 28, 2005, Baumgartner appeared for a pre-trial and raised the issue of the legitimacy of the indictment on the record. Baumgartner and DuBois had published commentary on erievoices.com concerning the appearance that the indictment was unlawfully obtained.

On about Aug. 29, 2005, Kasaris created a new case information statement and obtained a second indictment on Aug. 30, 2005, again without affording either Baumgartner or DuBois an opportunity to appear before the Grand Jury, This time the indictment was issued on a Cuyahoga county indictment form labeled a true bill, not a document produced on Kasaris's personal computer as she says the first one had been. Again Markus billed Ottawa County as a judge to testify as the lone witness before the grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio.

On Sept. 2, 2005, Baumgartner provided copies of a motion to dismiss the first indictment as a forgery and a sham to Special Agent Taska of the Cleveland FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Edward is Cleveland, Ohio. She says that Taska commented that nobody "can be this stupid as to produce such an obvious sham indictment".

On Sept. 12, 2005, a hearing was held before Judge Saffold on the indictment. At the hearing, it was learned that Kasaris and Markus had obtained a second indictment without informing the court and that the original indictment was never returned to the court by the foreman but kept by Kasaris. The foreman testified the first indictment was not a true bill. On about Sept. 20, 2005, Safford dismissed the first indictment.

Baumgartner is bringing her lawsuit with causes of action under the First, Fourth, Fifth Amendment for the sham indictment, Sixth Amendment, Eighth Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail and Fourteenth Amendment, denial of equal protection. 9-17-06

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