Official: 5 shot at Ohio resort area are treated at hospital
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A sheriff’s office says five people were shot at a cottage resort area in rural central Ohio.
The Mansfield New Journal reports the shootings happened just after midnight Friday at Spruce Hill Inn & Cottages near Mansfield. Richland County sheriff’s Capt. Jim Sweat tells the newspaper all the victims were treated at a local hospital.
Jill Del Greco, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s Office, says three state crime scene agents are assisting. She didn’t have further details.
Messages were left for the sheriff’s office and Spruce Hill Inn, which is described on its website as a place for retreats, meetings, reunions and graduations.
A spokeswoman for OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital said she couldn’t provide any information.
Ohio court won’t reconsider condemned serial killer’s appeal
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court says it won’t reconsider the death penalty appeal of a Cleveland man who killed 11 women and hid the remains in and around his home.
At issue in Friday’s ruling was the court’s decision earlier this month upholding the 2011 conviction and death sentence of serial killer Anthony Sowell.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Gamso had asked the court to reconsider its Dec. 8 ruling based on what he called the trial judge’s improper closing of a pre-trial hearing. That hearing involved the admissibility of Sowell’s videotaped police interrogation, which was over 11 hours.
The court ruled 5-2 Friday to reject Gamso’s request.
The judge ultimately allowed the use of the video, and most of it was played during Sowell’s trial.
Sowell still could file federal appeals.
Ohio casino fined $50K after overserved customer’s crash
CINCINNATI (AP) — Ohio authorities have fined Cincinnati’s downtown casino $50,000 in connection with a customer who was overserved at the casino bar and was subsequently involved in a car crash that killed another driver.
The Ohio Liquor Control Commission says Jack Cincinnati Casino must pay the fine in 21 days to keep its liquor permit.
A request for comment was emailed Friday to the casino’s operator, Detroit-based Jack Entertainment.
The Ohio Investigative Unit said 35-year-old Cory Lippmeier was overserved at the casino bar in March.
Lippmeier was sentenced to six years in prison for aggravated vehicular homicide for a crash that killed 41-year-old driver Scott Petredis near a bridge on Interstate 275. Police say Lippmeier was driving at speeds in excess of 100 mph.
Ohio court: Tigers’ owner can visit seized animals
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who is fighting the state for the return of his tigers and other exotic animals will be allowed to see some of the animals.
A state appeals court says the owner and his veterinarian will be allowed to examine the animals that were sent to a South Dakota sanctuary and later removed from there because of neglect.
The court is telling the state to arrange the visits as soon as possible.
Ohio took custody of 11 animals from Kenny Hetrick’s roadside sanctuary near Toledo in January 2015 after officials say he ignored warnings about needing a permit.
Hetrick has gone to court demanding the animals be returned.
A judge in November ordered the animals be brought back to Ohio but later put that ruling on hold.
Ohio man arrested in standoff is indicted in wife’s slaying
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his wife and barricading himself at home in an hours-long standoff with police has been indicted on aggravated murder and other charges.
A Lucas County grand jury indicted 41-year-old Terry Campbell, of Toledo, on Thursday. He was arrested two weeks ago after the standoff, when he surrendered after more than six hours.
He’s jailed on a $1 million bond. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Campbell has an attorney who could comment on the indictment.
A prosecutor tells The Blade newspaper that Campbell and his wife were estranged.
Police found 32-year-old Cora Campbell dead in the home. A coroner says she was repeatedly shot.
Police say a baby inside the home during the standoff wasn’t hurt and was put in the custody of relatives.
Cincinnati nonprofit helps blind WWII vet avoid city fine
CINCINNATI (AP) — A 98-year-old World War II veteran who is blind received help from a local charity to demolish a dilapidated shed next to his home and avoid a fine from the city of Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Elijah Tooles was initially told he’d be penalized if he didn’t remove the rundown structure from his property in the city’s Evanston section by Dec. 12.
That deadline was extended to March because of the winter weather, but members of Easterseals Serving Greater Cincinnati showed up on Thursday to tear down the shed.
Easterseals provides assistance to residents of the Cincinnati area with disabilities, many of whom served in the military.
John Clancy, the nonprofit’s director of veterans services, says it’s always a privilege to help a World War II veteran.
4 convictions linked to corrupt Ohio detectives vacated
CLEVELAND (AP) — Four men who pleaded guilty to various drug charges have had their convictions vacated because their cases were linked to three corrupt East Cleveland narcotics detectives.
The charges against Jeffrey Brown, Khalid Dervic, Richard Hodges and Theotis Miller were dropped after the men withdrew their guilty pleas on Thursday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Prosecutors have asked judges to overturn 40 convictions in cases investigated by Sgt. Torris Moore and detectives Antonio Malone and Eric Jones.
The officers each pleaded guilty to federal corruption-related crimes in 2015 after it was discovered that they filed bogus search warrants with false statements to steal money from suspected drug dealers.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Jose Torres, head of the Conviction Integrity Unit, says the detectives targeted men with long criminal records.
Changes to Ohio’s policies on jailing parolees recommended
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Inspector General’s Office has recommended that the state amend its rules on jailing parolees after finding that four prisoners were wrongly kept in jail for too long.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports Howard Brockman Jr., of Akron, remained at the Summit County Jail for close to two months even after he posted bond.
The Inspector General’s Office says Brockman and the others weren’t released on time due to an error in the way arrests and bonds are processed.
The Adult Parole Authority issued an order to keep Brockman held, but the state investigatory office says that mandate should’ve been lifted after he posted bond.
Recommendations include revising policies to notify the authority when inmates post bond as well as changing Ohio’s 20-day limit for parole violation hearings.
Supreme Court rules automaker not liable for cop’s injuries
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled Ford Motor Co. isn’t liable for a gas tank fire that severely burned a police officer after his cruiser was rear-ended by a drunk driver at more than 90 mph.
The court in a 5-2 ruling Thursday overturned an appeals court decision that said a Mahoning County judge in 2011 failed to tell jurors to consider Ford’s later warnings of a potential defect with the 2005 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor driven by Austintown Township officer Ross Linert.
Linert was burned over 40 percent of his body and is permanently disabled after the 2007 accident.
Ford later modified that model’s gas tanks.
An attorney says Linert and his family are disappointed and are considering whether to petition the Supreme Court for a new hearing.
Police say 3 charged in Ohio slayings members of a gang
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in Ohio say three suspects charged in separate slayings are members of a gang called Cincinnati White Boys.
The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reports a Middletown police detective identified 27-year-old Charles Ray Graham, 28-year-old Doug Best and 22-year-old Derrick Brown as gang members during a Middletown Municipal Court hearing Thursday. A judge refused to set bonds and bound over their cases to a grand jury.
The three were arrested last week and charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping in the slayings of 36-year-old Tiffany Hoskins and 47-year-old Joseph Romano, both of Middletown.
Romano was found shot to death inside a home Nov. 4. Hoskins’ body was found the next day in a vacant house that had been set on fire.
Court records don’t indicate if the three men have attorneys.
Columbus police officers begin wearing body cameras
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus officials say 12 traffic officers have been equipped with the city’s first police body cameras after months of discussion about how the cameras would be used and deployed.
A city statement Thursday says the officers began wearing body cameras Wednesday night. The remainder of the traffic unit is expected to receive cameras by the end of January. Officers in the bicycle unit are scheduled to get them by the end of May after police substations are wired with fiber optic cable.
A committee was formed in September 2015 to explore purchasing body cameras for Columbus police.
Mayor Andrew Ginther included in the city’s proposed 2017 budget money for hiring seven employees to handle camera-related public records requests and prosecutor evidence. Columbus plans to equip 1,400 officers with body cameras.
2 Ohio banks agree to pay $9M to settle biased lending claim
CINCINNATI (AP) — Two affiliated Cincinnati banks have agreed to spend $9 million to settle a federal claim of biased mortgage lending in predominantly black neighborhoods.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday the settlement with Union Savings Bank and Guardian Savings Bank. The DOJ says the banks engaged in the practice of “redlining” in black neighborhoods in the Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis from at least 2010 until 2014.
The banks have agreed to invest at least $9 million in black neighborhoods in the four cities and open two full-service branches and a loan center.
The banks’ chairman said in a statement given to The Columbus Dispatch that the institutions “strongly” disagree with the DOJ’s conclusions but will provide more lending opportunities to “improve the financial futures” of individuals, families and communities.
