Ohio

Ohio man wins $45M after 20-year wrongful imprisonment

Published

2 years ago

November 22, 2022

Ohio man wins $45M after 20-year wrongful imprisonment

An Ohio man was awarded $45 million after he received a civil lawsuit in opposition to a neighborhood police division for being wrongfully imprisoned for greater than 20 years.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Dean Gillispie sued the police division for Miami Township, positioned in southwestern Ohio, and a former detective over suppression of proof and tainting of eyewitness identifications, which he argued led to his conviction for rape and kidnapping in 1991.

Gillispie served jail time till 2011, however the Ohio Innocence Undertaking, a program on the College of Cincinnati’s regulation college that works to free those that have been falsely convicted of a criminal offense, stepped in to show his innocence.

Gillispie was convicted of raping and kidnapping twin sisters and one other lady in two separate incidents, however the jury within the lawsuit determined that the previous detective, Scott Moore, violated Gillispie’s rights by hiding proof that might have helped in his protection.

Moore stated a witness made an identification, however she didn’t, and proof put ahead on the civil trial demonstrated that Moore didn’t reveal tenting receipts that confirmed Gillispie was in Kentucky whereas the crimes occurred, the Dispatch reported.

Moore additionally advised the victims that they may not acknowledge Gillispie throughout the authentic trial as a result of he “dyed his hair.”

Gillispie has asserted that he was harmless since he was first tried, and a county decide stated final yr that he was wrongfully imprisoned.

“I’m simply considered one of 3,199 folks that this occurred to in america of America. These folks have served over 28,000 years in jail for crimes they didn’t commit. This has to cease. This technique needs to be mounted,” Gillispie stated at a information convention after the ruling.

Mark Godsey, the director of the Ohio Innocence Undertaking, stated nothing can repay Gillispie for the “horror” he skilled, however the jury’s resolution sends a message that individuals in energy want to alter “the way in which they do issues.”

“The way in which the authorities pushed via a conviction after which fought again and refused to confess a mistake was so disappointing,” he stated.

The Dispatch reported that whether or not the township or Moore will attraction the ruling is unsure.

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Ohio

Ohio gas prices rose from last week: See how much here

Published

4 hours ago

July 6, 2024

Press Room

Ohio gas prices rose from last week: See how much here

State gas prices rose last week and reached an average of $3.54 per gallon of regular fuel on Monday, up from last week’s price of $3.35 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The average fuel price in state has risen about 22 cents since last month. According to the EIA, gas prices across the state in the last year have been as low as $2.61 on Jan. 8, 2024, and as high as $3.69 on April 10, 2023.

A year ago, the average gas price in Ohio was 8% lower at $3.29 per gallon.

>> INTERACTIVE: See how your area’s gas prices have changed over the years at data.lancastereaglegazette.com.

The average gas price in the United States last week was $3.48, making prices in the state about 1.8% higher than the nation’s average. The average national gas price is up from last week’s average of $3.44 per gallon.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu.

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Ohio

Stan Aronoff was a visionary with the ability, determination to do great things | Opinion

Published

11 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

Stan Aronoff was a visionary with the ability, determination to do great things | Opinion

Cincinnati was home to Stan Aronoff, and he left it a much better place

Mark P. Painter
| Opinion contributor

Cincinnati lost so much in January. Many in our city do not realize how much we now enjoy was engendered by Ohio Senator Stan Aronoff. I’ve been waiting to write this column until after his celebration of life on June 22.

As a longtime friend, I was privileged to be among Neil Bortz, Steve Loftin, Jon Husted, Diane Martin, Jeff Ruby, Steve Hunt, Jeff DeLeone and Toria (granddaughter) and Brian Schottenstein as speakers on June 22. This is what I said then.

Sen. Stan Aronoff did more for Cincinnati than most civic leaders ever have. There are many reasons for this, but I will mention a few.

He was brilliant. He studied problems and solutions before he acted. Many legislators simply talked about what they thought they wanted without studying the possibilities or the obstacles. Stan was one of the exceptions. When he advocated for something, he had the facts in hand, and he had figured out how to clear the obstacles.

He worked hard and he understood Ohio. Being a state senator from Cincinnati and president of the Ohio Senate meant he had to travel from one end of the state to the other frequently.

Some of that driving was before interstate highways. Much was before car phones. Can you imagine?

I once calculated that Stan had traveled more miles back and forth from Cincinnati to Columbus than Neil Armstrong had to the Moon. Anyone who ever rode with Stan knew he probably traveled faster.

Stan loved Cincinnati and its people. He was born here and spent his life here. His family were immigrants − refugees. But Cincinnati was home to Stan, and he left it a much better place.

After working his way up to the Ohio Statehouse, Stan secured the rightful share of state support that Cincinnati had long been denied.

The icons of our built environment − the University of Cincinnati campus with its signature-architect structures, the renovation of Cincinnati Union Terminal as the nationally acclaimed Museum Center (my wife, Sue Ann, was instrumental) and the Aronoff Center for the Arts, which truly revived Downtown − would not exist except for Stan Aronoff. The Ohio Arts Council, which supports countless large and small arts institutions, would not exist without Stanley J. Aronoff.

He was the rare visionary who also had the ability and determination to accomplish great things.

He was a Republican who worked with Democrats to get things done. The best government we had in Ohio while I’ve been alive was when Stan Aronoff was Senate President and Vern Riffe was House Speaker: one Republican and one Democrat; one urban and one rural.

Nothing could pass unless Stan and Vern agreed. This meant compromise was necessary to round off the edges and keep extremists of either party in check, and it worked well. Back then, the legislature focused on school funding, criminal justice, and public health. While they surely couldn’t solve everything, they made an effort to try, rather than an effort to “own” the other side.

In Stan’s day, the extremely goofy legislation we see now with Ohio’s one-party government would never have even been considered.

The recent proposals to ban drag shows and prosecute school librarians would have been laughed out of a legislature populated by adults.

Sue Ann and I were privileged to know Stan and to have played a small part in this journey.

One day, we hope to see his equal again.

Cincinnati native Mark Painter served for 30 years as an Ohio judge. After serving 13 years on the Hamilton County Municipal Court, Painter was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals in 1994. He served on Ohio’s Court of Appeals until 2009, when he was elected by the UN General Assembly to serve as the first American on the UN Appeals Tribunal. He is the author of six books and hundreds of nationally published opinions.

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Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

Published

17 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than 100 dispensaries in Ohio are on their way to selling recreational marijuana. This comes after sales were anticipated to start in June.

The Division of Cannabis Control has given provisional licenses to 110 dispensaries so they can sell both medically and recreationally once they receive final approval.

Of the 110, Northeast Ohio has 36. Southwest Ohio has 29, and Central Ohio has 18. Franklin County has the most with 12, Cuyahoga with 11 and Hamilton with nine.

Click here to learn which facilities have a provisional license.

License applications must be approved or denied by Sept. 7, but the state and policymakers have continued to say that applications could be granted and recreational sales could happen by mid-June.

The passage of Issue 2 allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household. Click here to learn more about what the law entails.

High hopes for marijuana to hit store shelves sooner this summer

Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren is staying positive despite the delayed start date.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Haren said. “There is a lot of work that needed to get done.”

Consumers haven’t been able to buy weed legally because there is a process that takes place between getting a provisional license and getting a license with a certificate of operation.

The state has a list of requirements that shops need to meet, such as keeping visitor logs, having curbside and drive-through pickup and utilizing surveillance systems. Dispensaries will also have to demonstrate they can keep inventory aside to make sure medical patients continue having preferred access. Sellers will also have to do a test sale to a medical patient and a recreational consumer, among dozens of other tasks and evaluations.

“We’ve been going on a hiring blitz, of course, making sure that we’re staffed up,” Brandon Nemec with Verilife said.

But Gov. Mike DeWine wants more regulations.

“We have a problem of walking down the street with your five-year-old and there is marijuana smoke,” DeWine said in late June.

He has been asking for lawmakers to deal with his safety concerns for months.

The Senate has passed and proposed various changes to the law — like a restriction or ban on public smoking. However, it would limit home grow, reduce THC levels and ban the vast majority of vapes — among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose.

House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) has been blocking it, and dispensaries support him.

“Honoring the will of the voters is very important,” Stephens said in late June. “That part has been done — this was passed in November and it’s still the law of the land.”

The lawmakers in both chambers allegedly agree that they want to put more stringent guidelines on advertising, but they can’t agree on the vehicle. The House wants a clean version of a bill — meaning they don’t want the Senate to “go against the will of the people,” which is what House leaders say the other chamber is doing.

The Senate leaders have argued that the citizens didn’t actually know what they were voting for, and they don’t actually want or need to be able to grow six plants as an individual or up to 12 plants per household.

In their most recent move, the Senate proposed S.B. 278, a bill that would ban all public smoking or vaping, but they didn’t reduce the home grow amount this time. House leaders, specifically marijuana enthusiast state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), said a public ban would not be happening under his watch.

The House and the Senate both proposed ideas, and their leaders have been arguing about whose policy is better for the state, which in turn has kept marijuana off the shelves despite being passed in Nov. and going into effect in Dec. 2023.

Republican squabbling keeps marijuana off shelves months after legalization

Even though sales didn’t happen as hoped in June, Haren said Cannabis Control is still ahead of schedule. Technically, they have until Sept. to issue the first batch of licenses.

“We’re very encouraged that we are a matter of weeks away from Ohioans being able to purchase legal, regulated, taxed, tested, adult-use marijuana products right here in the Buckeye State,” Haren added.

There will likely be no changes to marijuana policy until the end of the year since the chambers are in summer recess until after the Nov. election.

Here is a list of provisionally licensed facilities in Northeast Ohio:

Cuyahoga Co.