Case Examples
History: A man was convicted of molesting a mentally challenged 8 year old child. The court sentenced the man to probation. A Civil Protection Order (CPO) was granted; however the offender violated the CPO numerous times by walking up to the fence of the child’s backyard, shaking the fence and making crude comments and gestures while the child was playing. In addition, he would park in front of the child’s home monitoring the family’s comings and goings again taking every opportunity to intimidate the child and mother. The victim’s mother had contacted the sheriff’s office numerous times to report the violations and law enforcement refused to take any action. They told the mother that she must hire an attorney to enforce the CPO.
Violations: Sheriff’s Office –Right to Protection and Right to be treated with Fairness, Dignity & Respect under the Ohio Constitution
Status: The Justice League contacted the sheriff’s office and the offender was arrested, charged, and probation revoked. The Justice League recommended the sheriff’s office adopt victims’ rights policies and procedures and provide victims rights training to officers. The case will remain open until recommendations are completed.
History: 23 year old rape victim from a rural southeastern Ohio Appalachian community. Alleged offenders recently released from prison for cocaine trafficking, assault, assault of an officer, and domestic violence. Alleged offenders are well known by law enforcement officials for intimidating and threatening victims/witnesses in previous criminal activity. This case was reported to The Justice League (TJL) by the Director of a rape crisis center. The Director reported to TJL that prior to interviewing the victim or defendants the detective assigned to the case stated that the victim was lying. While interviewing the victim, the detective yelled at the victim, said that the defendants said the act was consensual, and accused the victim of lying. The detective then told the victim that she needed to take a lie detector test. A CVSA was administered which demonstrated that she was telling the truth yet the detective still told victim and advocates that he believed the victim was lying. The detective then sent the results of the test to outside sources for review and the 3rd review indicated the victim was not truthful. The detective then contacted the victim and again accused her of lying. The detective, not in charge of the property room, personally disposed of the rape kit and medical evidence within 6 weeks of the incident, severely limiting victim’s access to criminal & civil justice. The victim was told by alleged offenders that if she did not say the act was consensual then they were going to put her in intensive care by beating her with a baseball bat. Not receiving any assistance from law enforcement and fearing for her life, the victim left a message at the sheriff’s office stating the act was consensual. Law enforcement did not conduct a follow-up investigation with the victim to determine why she had recanted or to determine if her safety was at risk. Instead, law enforcement immediately charged the victim with obstruction of official business the next day.
Actions: The Justice League arranged one meeting which included the following individuals; the Chief Deputy from the sheriff’s office, detective involved in victims’ rights complaint, county prosecutor, prosecutor based victims advocate, victim, victims public defender, and city attorney. The Justice League stated the basis of the complaint. When the detective was asked if he indeed stated the victim was lying prior to interviewing any involved parties his response was “yes”. When asked how he came to this conclusion he stated, “There have been numerous false reports of rape over the past year and I am just sick of it.” When The Justice League asked the detective how many false reports of rape over the past year the prosecutor interjected and said,“Dan you don’t have to answer that.” When asked why the prosecutor said, “He couldn’t possibly know exactly how many at this time.” Our response was, “That’s okay I realize you can’t provide exact figures just tell me approximately how many false reports you’ve had.” The prosecutor interjected again and said, “Dan you don’t have to answer.” We then made a public records request to the sheriff’s office and prosecutor’s office asking for the number of rapes and other sex offenses reported to the sheriff’s office, number of cases indicted as rape, number of cases indicted as other forms of sex offenses, number of rape convictions, and number of other sex offense convictions for the past year. The detective went on to say that he was a 14 year veteran in the sexual assault unit and the victim didn’t present herself as a rape victim. When asked to describe what he meant by this the detective stated, “She said that she washed off in the bathroom after the rape and she did not report in a timely matter.” The Justice League informed the detective that it was not uncommon for victims to want to cleanse themselves after a sexual assault and that we had read the police report which indicated the victim had reported the rape within 10 hours of the incident. The Justice League asked the detective why he thought that was not a timely report and the prosecutor interjected, “That’s merely a matter of opinion.” The Justice League’s response was “No, it is not merely a matter of opinion. The statute of limitations on rape is 20 years.” When asked if he threw away the rape kit the detective responded, “yes”.
Violations: Failure to Inform Victim of Her Rights 2930.04; Failure to Protect & to be Treated with Fairness, Dignity, & Respect pursuant to the Ohio Constitution; Improperly Disposing of Evidence; Improper Administration of CVSA (lie detector test)
Status: The sheriff’s office and city attorney have dropped the charges against the victim, re-opened the case, and has agreed to work with The Justice League in establishing victims rights policies and procedures. They also agreed to have their officers receive training in sexual assault awareness, evidence based prosecution, and victim backlash in the criminal justice system, as well they are correcting their policies on retention and disposing of evidence. The case will remain open until all recommendations are completed.
History: A case involving a 10 year old child rape victim was postponed 18 times primarily by defense and a couple times by the state over a three year period. The emotional strain of preparing for the trial every couple months over the three year period only to be met with more continuances diminished the impact of counseling services and had taken its toll on the child and parents. At 10 years old she was a sociable active straight A student; now 13 she was struggling to maintain C & D grades, dropped out of all sports activities, missed a considerable amount of school, and had become withdrawn and isolated. The child’s parents were denied the right to be present during proceedings and victims objections to the numerous continuances were never presented by the prosecutor to the court as statutorily required. The case had just been continued again for three months later and the parents, feeling there was no end in sight and wanting for their child to begin her healing and recovery, were considering requesting the charges be dropped.
Violations: Prosecutor’s Office - Victims Right to Object to Substantial Delay in Prosecution Ohio Revised Code 2930.08; Victim’s/Parents Right to be Present at Trial Ohio Revised Code 2930.09
Status: The Justice League met with the elected prosecutor and informed of speedy trial and right to be present violations. The prosecutor contacted the judge and the trial date was set within 2 weeks. The prosecutor also honored the parent’s right to be present. The Justice League is working with the prosecutor on developing victims’ rights policies and procedures & training to ensure that the violations do not continue and that prosecutors present victims objections to substantial delay to court as required by law so that we can ensure victims cases do not unnecessarily drag on for 3 years. Case will remain open until victims’ rights policies and procedures have been adopted and prosecutors have received victims’ rights training.
After Prosecutor’s Failed Indictment, Child Sexual Assault Victim and Family Fought for Justice and WON!
The living nightmare of the last twelve years has finally ended for a young girl and her family in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
In 1998 9-year-old Jane Doe became the victim of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by George Butler, now 42 years old.
As Jane quietly suffered through the first two years of Butler’s abuse, other families began reporting to police that Butler had abused their children. In January 2000 a woman reported to police that Butler had abused her 3-year-old daughter, another woman reported that Butler had abused her 5-year-old son, and in March 2000 Children’s Services reported to police that they had good cause to believe that Jane Doe was being sexually abused by Butler and that he was distributing photos of (then 11-year-old) Jane on the internet. Butler was not prosecuted for any of the alleged offenses.
Jane endured another 7 years of physical and sexual abuse until the abuse came to light in September 2007 by Jane’s family when they discovered more than 57 pages of hand-written letters that Butler had written to Jane Doe throughout her childhood describing and boasting about the horrible acts he committed against her and threatening to harm Jane, her family, and even Jane’s childhood friends. Also hidden with the letters were two rolls of undeveloped film. In addition, two boys told authorities that they witnessed Butler sexually abusing Jane but were too afraid of Butler at the time to report.
The family immediately contacted authorities in Knox County seeking justice for Butler’s brutal crimes. Jane’s grandmother said that initially the prosecutor would not take the case to the grand jury to seek Butler’s indictment but Jane’s family rigorously pressed the prosecutor to take action. On August 5, 2008 the prosecutor presented the case to grand jury, but despite the overwhelming amount of evidence the prosecutor failed to obtain an indictment. The prosecutor stated that the failed indictment must have been because it was a “bad grand jury”, but the film found hidden with the letters was never developed, and it appears that the prosecutor may not have shown key evidence (the letters) to the grand jury.
Jane Doe shared her frustration and concerns: “Throughout the whole grand jury hearing I felt like I was on trial. While I was in the grand jury room the letters George Butler wrote me as a child were never even presented. My grandma said that Thatcher told her the letters were present but not presented.”
The result of the failed indictment was devastating; George Butler walked away a free man and for nearly three years stalked and terrorized Jane and her family.
Many victims, especially victims of violent crimes, are not sure what to do at this point. They feel the legal system they have been taught to trust and respect has let them down. The Justice League of Ohio, the only organization of its kind in Ohio, was created to protect the rights of children and families who have become victims of violent crime and to restore faith and balance in the criminal justice system by ensuring that the laws in place to protect crime victims are upheld as diligently as the as the laws to protect defendants and offenders. They can assist people like Jane and her family navigate an often confusing and seemingly unresponsive, faceless legal maze until they reach the appropriate legal and moral resolution for their cases.
Jessica’s Grandmother: “We contacted everyone we could think of for help but were told there was nothing we could do if the prosecutor refused to prosecute. Finally we were referred to The Justice League of Ohio.”
After thorough review of the case file, meeting with the victim and family members, gathering additional pertinent evidence, and speaking with justice officials, The Justice League determined the Jessica’s statutory and constitutional legal rights as a victim of violent crime had been violated and began representation.
Over the next 18 months, The Justice League worked with criminal justice officials in an effort to protect Jane’s legal rights as a victim of crime, bring Butler to justice and prevent him from harming other innocent children.
In June 2009, The Justice League contacted the prosecutor to ask if he would be willing to have the film hidden with the letters developed and if he would consider taking the case back to a new grand jury. Although the prosecutor said he had no doubt Butler wrote the letters and the first grand jury must have been “bad”, he refused to have the film developed and take the case back to a new grand jury. Further, the prosecutor would not invite the Attorney General’s Office to handle the case.
The Justice League helped the victim prepare and file an Affidavit to Show Cause for Arrest and Prosecution with the Knox County Common Pleas Court in November 2009. (An Affidavit to Show Cause for Arrest and Prosecution is a little known law that allows citizens to present their case directly to a judge to initiate investigation and prosecution of a criminal case.)
In December 2009, the Common Pleas Court Judge denied the Affidavit to Show Cause stating that it lacked merit and was not filed in good faith. (It is unclear, with the overwhelming evidence, how the judge could possibly have come to this determination)
However; the judge did order the case back to the prosecutor for further investigation.
The Justice League made another plea to the prosecutor to complete the investigation and invite the Attorney General’s Office to handle the case. Once again the prosecutor refused.
Local print and TV media then covered the case and producers from O’Reilly Factor took interest. When citizens saw news stories about Jane’s plight they became outraged and began commenting and blogging about the injustice.
The prosecutor finally agreed to invite the Attorney General’s Office to prosecute.
On July 4, 2010 special prosecutors from the Attorney General’s office took the case back to Grand Jury.
Jane Doe: “In this grand jury the letters were presented, and I did not get asked questions that made me feel like I was on trial.”
Special Prosecutor’s from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office secured an indictment of six counts of rape, three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of intimidation of a witness against George Butler. Butler was arrested the next day.
In October 2010, Butler entered a plea to 8 of the 10 counts and in December 2010, Butler was sentenced to 40 years in prison on four counts of rape, 9 years on three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and 3 years on one count of intimidation of a witness. Since the judge ordered that most of the sentences were to run concurrently, the maximum time George Butler will serve is 13 years in prison.
Although Jane Doe and her family believe the sentence is far too lenient for the crimes Butler committed, they are relieved this nightmare is finally over. Only a year and a half ago they were told by criminal justice officials that George Butler would never be prosecuted. Yet this family persisted, and they now have the peace of knowing that because of their courage and commitment they no longer have to live their lives in fear that George Butler will continue to terrorize them. They no longer have to fear for the safety of the other children that George Butler was in contact with. They can finally begin the process of healing; healing from over 9 years of violence inflicted by George Butler, and healing from the “fight for justice” that consumed another 3 years of their lives.
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The Justice League of Ohio would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their support and assistance in this case: the sexual assault advocate who referred Jane Doe to The Justice League, the National Crime Victim Law Institute, national crime victims’ rights legal experts Robin Sax and Wendy Murphy, Capital University Law School Professor of Clinical Studies Lorie McCaughan, Capital University Law School extern Ravisha Kumar, Ohio Attorney General Special Prosecutors Paul Scarscella, Emily Pelphrey and Mindy Kowalski, and last but certainly not least everyone who has provided the much needed financial support for The Justice League to continue to protect and preserve the rights of citizens victimized by crime.
The Justice League of Ohio :: 3956 N. Hampton, Powell, OH, 43065 :: v(614)848-8500 f(614)848-8501
