Judge denies mistrial in Cleveland activist’s case, despite prosecutors’ filing with high court—Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County prosecutors filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday in the middle of an extortion trial.
Prosecutors went to the state’s highest court over a judge’s decision on jury instructions, a move that brought more drama to a highly charged case.
The filing came during the fifth week of Antoine “Fahiem” Tolbert’s trial before Common Pleas Judge William Vodrey. Ahead of closing arguments, Tasha Forchione, an assistant county prosecutor, asked Vodrey to declare a mistrial over what she said were unfair instructions. . . .
Peter Pattakos, Tolbert’s attorney … argued prosecutors were trying to throw a “last-minute Hail Mary.”
“Everybody in the room can see that there’s no crime here,” he said. “They (prosecutors) made their bed; they can sleep in it. … If they had followed the Constitution, we wouldn’t be here.”
Vodrey, weighing the motion to dismiss, was unpersuaded. He released the parties for lunch, and when they returned, prosecutors informed him of their request to the state’s high court and asked him to pause the trial.
Pattakos, calling the move “completely unprecedented,” was firmly against a delay. He asked Vodrey to instead dismiss the case altogether.
“This is gamesmanship,” he told Vodrey. “They see the writing on the wall.” . . .
Vodrey said there were several factual errors in an affidavit included with the filing and said most of the issues raised had already been hashed out in his courtroom. He was especially mindful of the burden a delay would place on jurors.
“This case will proceed,” he said. . . .
In a statement released Thursday by the prosecutor’s office, spokeswoman Lexi Bauer called the trial a “circus.”
“That, combined with repeated improper legal rulings, has caused the State of Ohio to seek a mistrial,” she said. “When that was denied, (emergency writs) were filed in the Ohio Supreme Court. While this filing is unprecedented, so have been the events and decisions that have unfolded in Judge Vodrey’s courtroom.”
Pattakos, in his own statement, agreed that the trial has become something of a circus.
“But that’s only because the prosecutor has made a mockery of justice by continuing to pursue these obviously retaliatory charges against a prominent activist and community servant,” he said.
He said prosecutors were desperate to keep the case from the jury because they have looked “ridiculous” in trying to prove their case.
“This is simply a case of play stupid games; win stupid prizes,” he said.
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