MAHONING COUNTY Judge denies ex-deputy's request over checking in

The federal trial for the defendant is set for late February.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal judge has decided that Mark Dixon should not be treated like others also accused of roughing up a Mahoning County jail inmate.
Dixon's Cleveland law- yer, Henry F. DeBaggis, filed a motion in U.S. District Court, Cleveland, requesting that Dixon forgo showing up in person the first Wednesday of each month to a Pretrial Services Department officer. DeBaggis said in court papers that his client must miss half a day's work and gets docked for the time.
It wasn't immediately clear what type of work Dixon, a former Mahoning County deputy sheriff, is doing.
Others
Dixon's co-defendants are deputies Raymond Hull III, 35, of Poland; John Rivera, 32, of Youngstown; and Ryan C. Strange, 28, of Vienna. All four are free on unsecured bond, with only Dixon required to check in each month to a Pretrial Services Department officer.
DeBaggis asked U.S. District Judge Lesley Brooks Wells to allow Dixon, 31, of Youngstown, to phone pretrial services as a way of checking in. In an order signed this week, the judge sided with the government and denied DeBaggis' motion.
In opposition to DeBaggis' motion, Steven M. Dettelbach, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Dixon is accused in federal court of a crime of violence -- twice beating inmate Tawhon Easterly -- and also charged in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court with sexually assaulting a female inmate.
"Included in the state case is laboratory analysis of fluid found in the victim's medical cell unit consisting of both Dixon's semen and her saliva," Dettelbach wrote in his response. "In addition, during the initial investigation, Dixon allegedly directed that physical evidence be destroyed. Federal investigative authorities are closely monitoring that prosecution."
Dixon's state case is set for a pretrial Tuesday in Judge Jack Durkin's court. At a status conference last week, Judge Wells set the federal trial for Feb. 22.
No objection
Dettelbach, meanwhile, said the defense did not object to pretrial supervision when Dixon first appeared in court when indicted in July.
The federal prosecutor argued that: "Active pretrial supervision was, and remains, the bare minimum that should be imposed upon this defendant based upon the nature of the crime ... the defendant's personal characteristics and the current status of the two prosecutions he faces."
"Evidently, Dixon disagrees and seems to view the inconvenience of physically reporting to the Pretrial Services Department one time each month as a burden that is too heavy for him to reasonably bear," Dettelbach wrote.
"His current request demonstrates a complete lack of understanding regarding the serious charges he now faces."
Dettelbach said Dixon faces six or more years in prison if convicted in the Easterly beating.
The federal prosecutor also pointed out that Dixon's pretrial services officer has numerous defendants who manage to juggle far stiffer reporting demands with their employment.
Hull, Rivera and Strange, meanwhile, were placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the charges against them.
Guilty pleas
So far, Bill DeLuca, 53, of Youngstown, who retired in July 2002 as a sergeant; Ronald Denson, 49, of Austintown, who retired in September 2003 as a corporal; and Ronald Kaschak, who quit in April as a deputy, have pleaded guilty to their part in the Easterly beating.
The indictment, handed up July 14, states that on Dec. 28, 2001, DeLuca "instructed deputies in the jail that, pursuant to instructions from senior management, they were to use force on Tawhon Easterly in order to punish him." Easterly had punched a female guard.
Michael Budd, 43, of Boardman was indicted in October and identified by the government as the supervisor who ordered the beating. The sheriff demoted Budd from major to deputy and placed him on paid leave. Budd's trial is set for Dec. 20.