Deadline is extended in case of contempt

Jail population and 'Do Not Release' orders are increasing.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 7th District Court of Appeals has made a Solomon-like decision on filing deadlines in the contempt case against Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington that's on hold.
Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly has until Feb. 1 to answer the alternative writ that the appeals court issued Dec. 27. The order prevented Judge Kobly from proceeding with a contempt hearing Dec. 28, at which the sheriff was to explain why a city man who was convicted of domestic violence was furloughed from the county jail despite the judge's "Do Not Release" order.
Lawyers for Judge Kobly and Wellington originally had until Jan. 24 to file briefs as to why the alternative writ should or should not be made permanent.
Youngstown Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello asked for an extension until Feb. 6. Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains didn't object at first, then requested an expedited briefing schedule Thursday because of recent increases in jail population and "Do Not Release" orders, he said.
Gains' argument
In seeking the alternative writ, Gains argued that municipal courts can't override the jail's operational policies as established by county common pleas court judges. One of those policies is an emergency release order that allows prisoners with misdemeanor or nonviolent crimes to be released on court summonses or serve their sentences later. The policy was enacted in response to a federal judge's declaration last year that the jail was overcrowded, understaffed and thus unconstitutional.
Judge Kobly has said the emergency release mechanism is unfair to lower court judges, who hear only misdemeanor cases.
The optimal number of inmates, with current jail staffing and funding limitations, is 296. Gains said jail population on Thursday was 396, with 69 of those in jail on "Do Not Release" orders from lower courts. One of the 69 is in jail on contempt of court charges; most others would be subject to the early release policy, Gains wrote.
The appeals judges are giving both parties until Feb. 8 to file stipulations and until Feb. 13 to file motions for summary judgment before a final ruling is issued. The schedule was ordered "in view of the critical nature of the subject matter of this action, protection of the citizens of Mahoning County while maintaining a constitutionally permissible county jail population," reads the journal entry signed by Judge Gene Donofrio, the presiding judge.
shaulis@vindy.com