Did a Trumbull Co. judge and two prosecutors violate legal ethics?

Did a Trumbull Co. judge and two prosecutors violate legal ethics?

COLUMBUS — A state panel is considering whether to discipline two assistant prosecutors and a judge from Trumbull County over a court filing in a capital murder case.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances Discipline must decide whether assistant county prosecutors Christopher Becker and Kenneth Bailey and Judge John Stuard of common pleas court acted improperly in the sentencing of Donna Marie Roberts.

Roberts, 63, and her boyfriend, Nathaniel Jackson, 26, were convicted in the slaying of Roberts’ husband in December 2001.

At Judge Stuard’s request and following a common practice in the county at the time, Becker, with some assistance from Bailey, wrote the court journal entry outlining the judge’s death sentence penalty against Roberts without notifying defense counsel or providing copies of the entry in advance.

That, according to Robert Berger, assistant disciplinary counsel for the high court, constitutes improper discussions between the judge and one side in a legal case in violation of conduct rules.

But S. Michael Miller, legal counsel for Becker and Bailey, argued the communications were not on the merits of the case, and the ethics charges should be dismissed.

For the complete story, see Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.