Court overturns 17 counts

The charges were from a youth program run in Fowler in 2002 and 2003.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The 11th District Court of Appeals overturned Monday 17 of the 18 convictions a jury handed to retired Fowler Township Police Chief James Martin, and ordered a Trumbull County Common Pleas judge to resentence him on the one conviction it did uphold.
The jury had acquitted Martin, 57, also a retired Howland police captain, on 11 counts of assault in March 2005 for operating a juvenile diversion program that involved paddling young males.
Jurors had found Martin guilty of 12 counts of using a sham legal process and six counts of dereliction of duty for various aspects of the diversion program.
The young men were paddled in a program geared to keep them away from juvenile court. The youths later learned the sessions were videotaped.
LuWayne Annos, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said the case that produced the convictions was long and complex -- and produced a complex ruling from the appeals court. She said the prosecutor's office has 45 days to decide whether to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, which has discretion over whether to hear the case.
At the time of sentencing, Martin's defense attorney, Dominic Vitantonio of Mayfield Village, said he found it "legally impossible" and "an absurdity" to convict Martin of using a sham legal process after finding him innocent of assault.
Neither Martin nor Vitantonio could be reached to comment Monday.
Judge Andrew Logan of Common Pleas Court had suspended the six-month jail sentence that came from the 18 misdemeanor convictions. He sentenced Martin to two years' probation and 120 hours of community service, and fined him 500 plus court costs.
The appeals court ruling released Monday was written by Judge Donald R. Ford.
Concurring were Judges William M. O'Neill and Diane V. Grendell.
One conviction upheld
The upheld conviction stemmed from Martin's issuing a traffic ticket to a youth named Michael Harrington and then not filing it with any court.
Martin diverted offenders to his program instead of turning them over to the court system. Martin said his intent was to help the young men by establishing rules of conduct and consequences for failing to live up to commitments.
Because it is not clear which convictions were used to arrive at Martin's sentence, the case will be returned to Judge Logan for resentencing, the ruling states.
Five other dereliction of duty convictions and 12 of using a sham legal process were overturned.
Martin had been convicted of dereliction of duty for creating the diversion program and failing to maintain public records in a public place.
The court said that a conviction for creating the diversion program would require a reckless failure to perform an act that was required of him, or the commission of an act expressly forbidden to his office or position but that his actions did not meet that standard.
With regard to maintaining public records in a public place, the open records statute Martin was convicted under does not require him to do anything.
The law requires that public offices maintain records, "which is not the same as imposing a duty on [Martin] to maintain records of his police activity," the court said.
Regarding the 12 convictions of using a sham legal process, the court said that in order to convict, a person must commit or facilitate an offense while using a sham legal process.
With Martin's acquittal on the assault charges, such a charge was not present, the court said.
Martin operated such a diversion program from 1975 to 1992 in Howland and continued it in Fowler Township in 2002 and 2003 when he was police chief there.
Martin was indicted on charges related to the Fowler Township program in 2004.
runyan@vindy.com