EX-FOWLER CHIEF Dismissal of charges opposed

It is not known when the judge will rule.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Criminal charges filed against the former Fowler Township police chief, accused of paddling participants in his juvenile detention program, should not be dismissed, a prosecutor argues.
David Toepfer, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, filed motions this week opposing the dismissal of any of the criminal counts against former Police Chief James Martin in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Andrew Logan, presiding over the case, said he will take the matter under advisement. It is not known when he will rule.
Seeking dismissal
Martin and his attorney, Dominic Vitantonio, had filed motions asking the judge to dismiss 27 of 52 counts filed against him. Martin has pleaded innocent to all 52 counts.
The charges that Martin and his attorney want dismissed are 20 counts of dereliction of duty and seven counts of unauthorized photography of juveniles.
The motion asks that the 20 counts of dereliction of duty be dismissed because the charges fail to reference any statute or law that expressly forbids Martin to operate a diversion program.
However, according to Toepfer's motion, state statute specifically grants the authority to establish a pretrial diversion program only to prosecuting attorneys.
"It does not authorize judges, probation officers, public defenders, police officers or anyone else in the justice system to establish and operate such a program," the motion states.
Toepfer's motion also states that according to law police officers must file traffic citations with the proper court. "They do not authorize police officers to do anything else with them and do not authorize police officers to divert them to a pretrial diversion program."
Not filed
Court documents state that participants in Martin's program who received traffic tickets were told that if they attended the program they would not have to go to court. The tickets those participants received were never filed in court, officials said.
In his motion to have the seven charges of unauthorized photography of juveniles dismissed, Vitantonio explains that Martin videotaped the paddling of several juveniles.
State law mandates that no child should be fingerprinted or photographed in the investigation of any violation of law without the consent of the juvenile judge.
Vitantonio, however, states in the motion that the juveniles were not under investigation when they were videotaped.
Toepfer said in his brief that a trial must be held so that all the evidence can be produced.
Probe began in March
State and federal officials began investigating Martin's juvenile diversion program in March. The program, which diverted offenders from the court system, used corporal punishment and was being operated out of the Fowler Township Police Department.
Martin retired from the part-time police chief's job last month. He retired from Howland Township, where he was a police captain, in May.
Martin remains free on a $2,500 bond.
sinkovich@vindy.com