Judge calls sheriff for contempt hearing

A convict was released against the judge's orders but then rearrested.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington has to appear in municipal court to explain why he released an inmate after a judge ordered him to keep the man incarcerated.
Municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly scheduled a show-cause hearing for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 12 to determine if the sheriff should be held in contempt of court. She ordered the sheriff to appear in person.
The case involves Ronald A. Tomlin, 19, of Hudson Avenue.
He was convicted of domestic violence and sentenced Tuesday by Judge Kobly to seven days in jail. Her one-page journal entry (front and back) contains this handwritten notation on the back: "Sheriff not to release early."
The judge's signature also appears on the back.
Tomlin was furloughed from the jail the same day he was sentenced. With the jail population capped at 296, certain inmates are released according to a 13-step plan devised by common pleas judges. Furloughed inmates must report back to the jail at some point to complete their sentences.
Journal entry
The clerk of court office explained the journal entry procedure for sentencing this way:
A copy of the two-sided entry goes back to the jail with the inmate who has been sentenced. Around the same time, two pages -- one of the front of the entry, one of the back -- are faxed to the jail.
The redundancy is meant to avoid the release of inmates in error.
The day after sentencing, a court employee hand-delivers a commitment paper to the jail that also shows the sentence. This paper comes from the clerk's office and is not signed by the judge, so it would not have her handwritten notations.
Prosecutor contests order
In response to Judge Kobly's order that the sheriff appear for a show-cause hearing, Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains filed a motion Thursday in municipal court to dismiss the proceeding. Judge Kobly said the hearing will take place as scheduled.
Gains said in his motion that the sheriff, after being notified that Tomlin had been released in error Tuesday, ordered deputies to find the man. Tomlin was then rearrested that afternoon and remains in jail.
According to sheriff's department personnel, no copy of Judge Kobly's "do not release" order was received, Gains wrote. The jail received only the first page of the two-page order, the prosecutor said.
Gains doesn't explain in his motion why jail personnel, who are accustomed to receiving both sides of a judge's journal entry, would process an inmate without the complete form. The back side is a continuation of the sentence, and only the back side contains the judge's signature.
In response to the lack of the judge's signature, Gains said Thursday that deputies are not lawyers.
He said he was told by the warden that even the copy of the entry that arrived with the inmate was only one-sided and only that side was faxed. He had no answer for why jail staff didn't ask for the second side.
The prosecutor said, "It's a mistake," regardless of who is at fault, "and I'd like to see a little more cooperation."
Since Tomlin is back in jail, Gains said in his motion that the sheriff has purged himself of the contempt citation and contends the issue is moot.
meade@vindy.com