9/24/13 Attorneys allege bias, want Rinfret removed from West Holmes Vandalism case

  • By Nick Sabo
  • September 24, 2013
  • 488
                        
SUMMARY: Claim statements made in plea hearing, conference with parents indicative of bias The Ohio Supreme Court will determine wether Holmes County Common Pleas Judge Robert D. Rinfret’s ties to the West Holmes School District constitute a bias in the case of three men who vandalized the high school. Attorneys representing Denver Black, 18, Big Prairie, Drew Jolley, 18, Millersburg, and Corbin Wright, 18, Millersburg have petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court to disqualify Rinfret from sentencing the three defendants on vandalism charges. The charges stem from May 16, when the three codefendants and a 17-year-old juvenile spray painted ‘2013’ and other messages and symbols on the the high school’s exterior walls, benches, and the school bell. The field house, restrooms and press box were also vandalized. The damage is estimated at $6,200. The vandalism was apparently a graduation prank. In filings with the Supreme Court Sept. 13, attorneys Andrew Hyde, Jeff Kellogg and Chrstina I. Smith cite a statement by Rinfret in a July 23 plea hearing and a conference the same day with Drew Jolley’s parents as evidence that Rinfret may have shown bias, acting in an emotional way about the case. The attorneys further cite Rinfret’s wife’s position as a teacher at West Holmes Middle School, his involvement with athletic programs at the high school and his position as a boardmember of the Holmes County Education Foundation as possible causes of bias. In a response filed with the Supreme Court, Rinfret states that he has no bias against the three defendants. Rinfret notes that he previously presided over a case involving a secretary at West Holmes Middle School who pleaded guilty to stealing from a school fund. Rinfret writes that Andrew Hyde, who is counsel for Denver Black, was the woman’s attorney and made no assertions of bias in her case, despite Rinfret’s ties to the school district. In the plea hearing July 23, Rinfret addressed the three defendants to inform them that his wife is a teacher and that his own children graduated from West Holmes High School. In an affidavit filed by Smith, who represents Corbin Wright, Rinfret is quoted as saying “...My kids graduated from West Holmes. My wife graduated from West Holmes. I want you to know that. OK?” Drew Jolley states in an affidavit contained in Kellogg’s motion to disqualify that Rinfret spoke “in a stern voice”. After the hearing, Rinfret called Jolley’s parents into the judge’s chambers for an impromptu conference. Jolley states that “According to my parents he (Rinfret) was quite upset and couldn’t believe what my friends and I had done.” Jolley states the meeting caused his parents “much consternation...how the judge meeting with them would affect my sentence.” Rinfret, writing in his response, states that his comment to the defendants about his familial connections to the school at the plea hearing were not “made sternly”. Rinfret writes that the statement was made because he wanted it on the record that the defendants were aware of his family’s relationship to the schools. The conference with Jolley’s parents was “no different than as I would have discussed in open court at the time of sentencing”, Rinfret writes. Rinfret further writes that the attorneys, who have all practiced in the county for varying lengths of time, were well aware of his connections to West Holmes prior to the case being heard. Sentencing for Black, Jolley and Wright was previously scheduled for Sept. 26. The sentencing date has been continued, pending the Supreme Court’s decision. The three men have been charged with vandalism, a fifth-degree felony that carries up to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine.


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