I want to thank WMD regular Gary for leading me back to some of my old stomping grounds, Highland County. I could write books on how corrupt the school districts of one of its towns is, but I will instead stick with other government officials. It appears there is a bit of a scandal in the Highland County Courts:The ethics hearing regarding Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Hoskins took a surprising turn Wednesday.
Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey testified that following Hoskins' March 2006 secret indictment on criminal charges, an investigation was launched into the activities of a staff member of the prosecutor's office following an accusation that she had spoken to the judge regarding his criminal investigation.
Grandey took the stand Wednesday afternoon, where he spoke about certain procedures in Highland County Common Pleas Court, and a case where the relator, Jonathan E. Coughlan, disciplinary counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel, alleges Hoskins changed a sentencing entry that reduced the jail time that was to be served by a defendant who came before his court, Donald Scott Schaffer.
Count eight of the nine-count complaint being heard this week by a three-judge panel of the Ohio Supreme Court Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline at the Ohio Judicial Center, alleges Hoskins filed an entry reducing the sentence even though a request was not made by the defense or prosecution in the case, Schaffer is the second cousin of Roger Dillard, a close friend of Hoskins, Dillard testified.
During Grandey's testimony, Coughlan asked Grandey if he knew about an investigation into Hoskins that was conducted from June 2005 until January 2006 by the Highland County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Grandey said that he did not know about the investigation until the first week of February 2006. The prosecutor said he did not tell anyone in his office about the investigation, including his staff.
"Did anyone on your staff say anything to you?" Coughlan asked.
"At that time, no," Grandey said. When asked if anyone on his staff said anything about the investigation after the March 7, 2006 indictment, Grandey said, "On the day the grand jury met, a member of my staff went to Judge Hoskins. I confronted her (about the accusation). She no longer works for my office."
On cross examination, counsel for Hoskins, the respondent, John Smith, asked Grandey about the relator's questions saying they needed to know if anyone was "inferring a leak."
"I was told about a possible leak," Grandey said. He then confronted the person who had been implicated as possibly leaking information to Hoskins. During his testimony, Grandey initially did not use the employee's name when speaking about her.
"Kathryn Hapner was the leak, is that correct?" Smith asked, and Grandey confirmed that it was.
Smith said the relator was trying to establish there was a leak because that meant Hoskins could have known about the investigation during a "sting" when a confidential informant, David Bliss, tried to give the judge $30,000 in cash while in Hoskins' chambers. The meeting came during the investigation into Hoskins, and the money came from the Highland County Auditor's Office, according to testimony by Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward. Ward said Hoskins believed that money was obtained by Bliss through credit card fraud, and had he taken the money, it would have constituted money laundering.
Hoskins previously testified during his two criminal trials that when Bliss showed him the money, the judge put his hand on the phone and told Bliss that if he put it down in his office, he would call law enforcement.
All criminal charges against Hoskins have either been dismissed, nullified, or he was acquitted by a jury.
"Did you determine (Hapner's alleged) discussion with Judge Hoskins occurred before or after the indictment?" Smith asked.
"One of the problems I had, Kathryn was forthright about telling me she went to Judge Hoskins," Grandey said. "She was not forthright about telling me when."
Grandey said when he asked Hapner if she had talked to Hoskins about the matter, she said that she had.
"I referred the matter to the discipline counsel," Grandey said. "(Hapner) requested counsel be appointed. I concluded she could no longer function as assistant prosecutor, and she was terminated."
A prosecutor leaking information to a defendant, or taking the defendant's side so as to get favors or to get something later down the line? Gosh, we've never seen that have we?(Sarcasm) I mean, no one in Clermont County has ever seen anything like this, have they, where prosecutors played both ends (read: Slaby case)?
