The Ohio Supreme Court denied an application by James Worley to reopen the appeal he had previously filed.
Worley’s Public Defender from The Office of the Ohio Public Defender filed the application in October to reopen the case “based upon the ineffective assistance of counsel during his direct appeal.”
The court did not agree that Worley’s counsel had failed to present the issues correctly to the appellate court and denied the application. A federal appeals process is still an option and is being looked into.
Worley was convicted in 2016 for the kidnapping and murder of Sierah Joughin. He was found guilty of all 17 charges that were brought against him and was sentenced to death.
Worley’s execution date was set for May 20th, 2025, by the Ohio Supreme Court.
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“$3575 charged to the Seller as title fees in the 2011 sale of the purchase of 8770 SH108, Wauseon, Ohio 43567 by purchaser, Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County, Ohio. The title agency was Midwest Title Agency, which is ( or was) the law firm of Barber, Kaper, Stamm, Robinson, and McWatters, LPA. In other words, that $3575 would likely have went into the firm’s coffers.
The attorney representing the seller was none other than Jeffrey L. Robinson, who at that time was also western district court judge. His involvement and his firm’s receipt of remuneration from the purchase money may have constituted an unlawful interest in a public contract.
Prosecutor Scott Haselman was aware of this in 2013, before the statute of limitations ran. He chose to ignore that possibility, and the SoL ran in November of that year. No investigation, let alone a prosecution, for violating state ethics laws occurred. Robinson went on to be elected to the common pleas court in 2016 and took office in 2017.
Robinson’s involvement in the land purchase is a matter of public record. Everyone in county govt. knew he was a judge of the county and was on the other side of the transaction. They also were charged with knowledge of the ethics laws. It is doubtful that they were unaware at the time that his involvement in the transaction likely would have constituted an ethics law violation. They were highly experienced govt. officials. It strains credulity that they would have been ignorant as to the issue. They would have had to have known, yet none of them said anything. Why?
The obvious answer as to your question why is that Fulton County government is plagued by a culture of corruption; each elected official turns a blind eye to ethical lapses of other officials because either they themselves are equally compromised, or they recognize the adverse political consequences if they do not maintain a code of silence with respect to ethics violations.
They either knew Robinson’s involvement likely constituted an ethics violation in 2011, and said nothing, or alternatively, they really were so deficient in their knowledge of Ohio’s ethics laws that they did not recognize it as a probable violation. Neither possibility is an acceptable one.
Additionally, it is a tremendous stain on the legal profession as a whole. It bolsters an all too common perception that it is an elitist profession that looks out for its own when it can and countenances corruption in doing so. It makes the legal profession appear to be a mere extension or appendage of the political class.
And what about Prosecuting Attorney Scott Haselman and the allegation of obstruction of justice? Well, sometime in 2014 or perhaps early 2015, an elected official who was confronted with sizable unpaid costs made a request for proposals (RFP) for legal services in efforts to collect these unpaid costs. Guess who submitted a proposed legal services agreement with a cover letter in response to the RFP? Yes, the law firm of Barber, Kaper, Stamm, Robinson, and McWatters with the cover letter signed by attorney Jeff Robinson, who at that time was still a part-time county court judge. Once again, Haselman was informed of the issue of a violation of the prohibition against a public official having an unlawful interest in a public contract, which of course was again Robinson. Haselman chose this time to address the problem by meeting with Robinson privately in his office, apprising him of the legal ramifications of entering into the proposed legal services agreement, and then returned the cover letter and proposed agreement to Robinson to do with both documents whatever he saw fit, which presumably was to destroy both. This meant evidence that Robinson as a public official had attempted to violate the ethics law by having an unlawful interest in a public contract, a crime by itself, was kept out of the hands of the appropriate investigatory authorities by giving it back to the criminal suspect. That would be how Haselman possibly obstructed justice—by facilitating the elimination of evidence of a possible crime.
I am sure every would-be criminal or criminal suspect would like the county prosecuting attorney to privately advise him what he or she is in the midst of doing is a crime, exhort him or her to stop, and then aid them in eliminating the principal evidence against them by giving it back to them. However, most would be criminals or criminal suspects aren’t also part-time judges, so they would not be afforded that courtesy.
Again, as with the 2011 possible offense, enough time has lapsed that prosecution would be barred by the statute of limitations.
Robinson wasn’t the only Fulton County elected official in the last decade to have a total disregard for Ohio’s ethics laws. Former County Commissioner Perry Rupp, who served a single term from 2011-2015, received a tax abatement on property his company, Aerobeech Ltd., owned adjacent to the Fulton County Airport as part of an Enterprise Zone Agreement (EZA) between The FC Board of Commissioners, the Dover Twp. Board of Trustees, and the Wauseon Local School Board just prior to his being elected commissioner in 2010. During the four years he served as commissioner, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners re-approved the EZA tax break it had agreed to give Aero Beech. While Rupp was apparently savvy enough not to vote on each annual resolution to renew the tax break, his company still evidently received it. Moreover, as part of the annual tax incentive review process, the Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC), headed by County Auditor Brett Kolb, recommended renewal each of the four years Rupp served as a county commissioner. The Board on which Rupp served renewed the tax break on the recommendation of TIRC.
His receipt of such a tax break through a company he owned would have constituted an unlawful interest in a public contract, a violation of one of Ohio’s ethics laws.
How could none of his colleagues in county government not know receiving such a tax break during his tenure in office constituted a crime? Were they all really that clueless as to the scope of the law? Or did they know but turned a blind eye? More importantly, could they have been found criminally complicit by facilitating his receipt of the tax break, specifically, recommending its renewal and voting for the same? We will never know conclusively because of the code of silence.
Incidentally, the Board of County Commissioners recently bought that property from Aero Beech Ltd. it is unknown if the purchase price was offset by what should have been paid in taxes, as the EZA tax break should have been voided.
Again, there is a culture of corruption in Fulton County government.
Maybe I would be the only one, but if I were a taxpayer living in the Wauseon School District, I would want a full accounting of the Aero Beech tax break before I would even consider voting for another levy. The full particulars. Why was it really given and how did it really benefit the whole community. That’s probably just me though. And I would demand changes too if my suspicions were confirmed. No one involved could keep their post.
Stan and I are with you Bob. That’s three.
Four actually, Old C. My friend Perry Shotwell. He’s not online but with us in spirit.