Will the citizens of Scioto County finally get to hear Portsmouth Police Chief under oath in the Matt Powell case? If the Ohio Supreme Court throws out the Powell conviction, we might get that day, the day when Chief Horner is forced to tell his reasons why he went after Powell back in 2003 and 2004.
Former New Boston Police Sgt. Matt Powell is seeking to have his criminal conviction for tampering with evidence thrown out at the Ohio Supreme Court. In motions filed within the last month, Sgt. Powell's attorney, James Banks, of Dublin, Ohio claims that the judge that was sent in to hear the case was without standing to hold a jury trial in the State of Ohio.
According to Attorney Banks, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a "private judge" can not be sent in to do jury trials. The judge that the Ohio Supreme Court sent in to preside over the State of Ohio vs. Matt Powell was Judge Richard Markus, a retired judge. Does this make Judge Markus a "private judge" as defined by the Ohio Supreme Court? It sounds like it does to me.
In rulings passed down by the Ohio Supreme Court in the last few months the Supreme Court Justices stated that private judges can only preside over "bench trials" which means their is no jury present to hear a case. The judge is the decision maker in the case. This case could set precedence in state law if the Powell case is reversed.
Powell was convicted of tampering with evidence. The Powell case originated because of a feud started by Portsmouth Police Chief Charles Horner. Chief Horner was upset with Powell because Powell and officers of the Portsmouth Police Department chased a suspect into Kentucky and then returned the man to Ohio without proper extradition papers from Kentucky.
Chief Horner became annal retentive against Sgt. Powell and started a secret investigation against Powell, his girlfriend Teresa Blankenship, and their friend, Attorney Eric Wrage. Chief Horner issued secret memos ordering that any of his officers that had any contact with Powell to write a memo and send it to Horner.
Chief Horner fought to stay off the witness stand during Powell's first trial. I believe this was judicial error. Chief Horner caused the investigation and then hid like a coward refusing to testify, fighting at every turn to not get on the stand. I believe the big reason Chief Horner didn't want to testify was because he would have had to admit under oath that his son was a drug abuser/dealer in Scioto County area. Sgt. Powell claims he was investigating the actions of Chief Horner's son at the time he was put under investigation by Horner up to and including the day Powell was arrested.
It is unclear when the Ohio Supreme Court will decide the case. If you want to monitor the filings in the appeal click on the following link and scroll down to the pleadings. If a document has been scanned in you can open it up and read it.
More on this story later.
John Welton (DD)
