A TALE OF TWO CASES
BOTH RESULT IN A LITTLE BIT OF JUSTICE
| Editorial |
A TALE OF TWO CASES BOTH RESULT IN A LITTLE BIT OF JUSTICE |
Patricia Cleary, as you may recall, is the common pleas judge who in 1998
kept Yuriko Kawaguchi in jail in order to prevent her from having an abortion.
It was an outrageous act that might be brought to justice if the Board of
Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Supreme Court of Ohio gets its
way. The board has recommended to the Ohio Supreme Court justices, who will make
the final decision, that Cleary’s license to practice law be suspended for a
year. This is an increase in the punishment that was sought by the
Cleveland Bar Association, which filed the grievance and only asked for a
six-month suspension. But before we get to the consequences, let’s review a few
facts (as confirmed by the board). Cleary was found to have sentenced Kawaguchi, who was five months pregnant at
the time, to six months in jail because she didn’t want her to have an abortion.
Cleary told Kawaguchi she could get probation if she put her child up for
adoption and, when asked for clarification, stated in open court, "I’m saying
that she is not having a second-term abortion." When this offer was refused,
Cleary then packed Kawaguchi off to jail. What’s more, in the disciplinary hearing, Cleary was found to have lied under
oath. In making its case to the board, the Cleveland Bar Association states,
"the single greatest factor which weighs in favor of an enhanced sanction in
this case is the fact that the panel, when assessing [Cleary’s] credibility in
this matter, has unanimously concluded that she made false and deceptive
statements in her testimony before this panel in an attempt to exculpate herself
from responsibility for her misconduct." The board’s recommendation to suspend her license for a year is acceptable,
and the Ohio Supreme Court should impose it. But, frankly, the woman should be
disbarred for life. –Lisa Chamberlain By reaching an extremely generous settlement last week with whistleblower
Paul Jayko, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency essentially admits that it
sabotaged its own investigation of a contaminated school site in central Ohio.
This ends a three-year court battle in which we learned to what extent those
entrusted with guarding the public health in this state are willing to deceive
and endanger us. As the Free Times reported in November (see story here.),the
River Valley school campus in Marion County is built on a former military
chemical dump. Radioactive materials were stored nearby. No wonder, then, that
the leukemia rate among graduates of the schools is three times what it should
be. Based on the reports of leukemia, the Ohio EPA began a plodding investigation
of the site in 1997, discovering some toxic contamination. When investigator
Paul Jayko pushed for more thorough testing, he was removed from his duties on
trumped-up charges of drinking on duty. His real offense, though, was violating
agency policy. An internal agency memo entered as evidence in Jayko’s case, and
weighed heavily by a federal administrative judge, showed that an "intended
outcome" of the agency’s investigation was to determine that the contamination
was of no consequence. Later, it was discovered that the Ohio EPA learned of
contamination nearby about 20 years ago, but did not make it public. As part of the settlement, Jayko gets nearly everything he asked for. He is
compensated for court costs and back pay, and can return to River Valley to
finish the investigation he started. Now that the Ohio EPA has been held accountable to Jayko, the question is,
why did taxpayer money fund the defense of the agency’s defenseless behavior?
And why do the people discovered to have undermined the River Valley
investigation go unpunished? Perhaps Ohio’s governor should hold the Ohio EPA
accountable to the rest of us. –David Morton