Judge to consider motions to dismiss some counts

CINCINNATI — The judge overseeing the trial of three Lawrence County Jail corrections officers is considering motions to dismiss several of the counts against the defendants following arguments by their attorneys on Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati.

After hearing testimony from three more witnesses on Wednesday, defense attorneys for Jeremy S. Hanshaw, Ronald Scott Hatfield and Jason D. Mays asked separately for counts against their clients to be dismissed due to the prosecutors having failed to prove their case.

All three defendants are charged with conspiracy against rights and deprivation against rights under the color of the law and aiding and abetting. The indictment alleged the three men “willfully combined, conspired and agreed with one another to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate (Larry Kinstler) … in the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by one acting under the color of law.”

Hatfield and Mays are charged with destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations and bankruptcy and aiding and abetting, which alleged that at Hatfield’s direction, Mays intentionally blocked the view of a camera view of the alleged assault of Kinstler.

Hanshaw is charged separately with two counts of destruction, alteration or falsification of records, which alleged he falsified a use of force report and an incident report.

Kathryn Wallrabenstein, co-counsel representing Mays and also speaking on behalf of Hatfield’s and Hanshaw’s attorneys, asked that the conspiracy against rights, deprivation against rights and Mays’ and Hatfield’s falsification charges be dismissed, claiming the prosecution’s failure to prove the defendants had any intent to harm Kinstler, nor did they conspire with each other to harm the man.

“I do believe Mr. Kinstler took special actions that permitted each defendant to use some reasonable force,” she said.

Wallrabenstein also said in regards to the falsification charge that Mays was blocking a doorway and not a camera view. She also argued that the camera was not altered or concealed and that all investigators had full access to the hard drive on which the recordings were found.

Mark Collins, attorney representing Hanshaw, asked that his clients falsification charges be dismissed on the grounds that his reports were written in a summary form in a timely manner and were available to his supervisors and anyone who wanted to view them, thus they were not false reports.

“He didn’t influence anyone not to go forward with the investigation,” he said.

United States District Judge Timothy Black dismissed the motions to drop the conspiracy against rights and deprivation against rights charges, but said he would take the other motions under consideration. He said he may have a determination before the start of Thursday’s court session.

Witnesses to testify Wednesday were Jeremy Wrenn, a paramedic with the Lawrence County Emergency Medical Services; Larry Kinstler, the alleged victim in the case; and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Det. Sgt. Aaron Bollinger.

Wrenn was on duty the night of Aug. 16, 2014, when he and his partner got a call to go to the jail to transport an inmate with a laceration on his head. That inmate was Kinstler.

Wrenn was shown photo images of the security footage from the booking area of the jail, where the alleged incident took place. He was shown photos of Hanshaw handing Kinstler a clipboard and a pen to sign a release form, Hanshaw with his hand around Kinstler’s throat and one of Hanshaw with his elbow to Kinstler’s neck, which also showed Mays in the image.

Alexis Zouhary, prosecutor, asked Wrenn if he saw Kinstler do anything before Hanshaw put his hands around Kinstler’s neck, to which he replied Kinstler did nothing.

He also said he saw Mays strike Kinstler on the left side of his neck with a closed fist.

“Something could have happened to cause my client to react, you just didn’t see it?” Collins asked Wrenn, to which he replied correct.

David Thomas, co-counsel for Mays, asked Wrenn if he treated Kinstler for any injuries allegedly caused by Mays.

“All we treated him for was the laceration,” Wrenn said.

During a redirect question, Zouhary asked, “Did you see the patient physically threaten anyone in the booking area that day,” to which Wrenn replied no.

Kinstler himself took the stand Wednesday, admitting to having a drinking problem, which led to his initial arrest for disorderly conduct at the Rally on the River on the night of Aug. 16, 2014. He also admitted to some drug use in his lifetime, but claimed he wasn’t a regular drug user.

Emily Glatfelter, prosecutor, asked Kinstler to recall the events of that evening.

He said he was arrested while leaving the rally, but couldn’t recall how he got to the jail.

“There’s a lot I don’t recollect,” Kinstler said. “I remember being led by three officers to a hallway. I remember being choked out and pushed against a wall and to the floor.”

He said he lost consciousness and when he woke up he was on a medical gurney, although defense attorneys would later point out that no one reported Kinstler losing consciousness.

He described for the jury his injuries while photos of bruises and a cut above his right eye were shown to the jury. Bruises were shown on both Kinstler’s arms, as well as his rib cage area.

Kinstler didn’t report the incident because he said he didn’t know whom to tell. He also said since the incident he has trouble swallowing and speaking and well as some memory loss.

Defense attorneys questioned why Kinstler left the hospital before receiving treatment and once he returned, still failed to tell anyone about neck or throat injuries.

Kinstler said he left the hospital because he was afraid of the uniformed hospital security.

The final witness of the day was Detective Bollinger, who was the lead investigator on the case until the FBI was called in to conduct an investigation.

He said he was alerted to the alleged misconduct while he was having another deputy pull video footage for an unrelated matter.

It was at that time Dawn Easterling, a LCSO dispatcher who witnessed a portion of the incident and who testified Tuesday, inquired whether Bollinger was pulling footage of the alleged assault.

“That’s when we looked into the incident,” Bollinger said.

Bollinger said after watching the video, he felt an investigation was needed.

The trial is expected to continue today with Judge Black’s decision on whether to dismiss the falsification charges.

If he does not dismiss them, Collins said he would call his opinion witness to testify. Hanshaw is also expected to take the stand.