In-Justice 101 - Ohio Style [Anatomy of the Victimization of U.S. Marine Larry Brown]

This story exposes the sordid, unconstitutional and illegal conduct of various public officials in Ohio and attorneys hell-bent on perverting the justice system in an effort to (1 wrongfully convict someone of murder, (2) for an unethical attorney to unjustly enrich himself, and (3) to get even with the victim for exposing their egregious misconduct.  This despicable travesty of justice and the underlining conspiracies involving public officials began in 1996 and continues unabated as of April 2006.

This odyssey of ongoing injustice began in June 1996 as the result of an unfortunate auto accident that took the life of Mrs. Larry Brown.  Mrs. Brown, a nurse for the VA and Sheriff's special duty nurse was driving a Jeep when she somehow lost control of and which then ended up at the bottom of a hill.  As a result of this accident, Mrs. Brown's Jeep caught on fire and she ended up dying from the horrific injuries she sustained.  Larry attempted to assist his wife; however, the intensity of the flames that engulfed the Jeep Wrangler at the accident scene thwarted Larry's heroic efforts.  The injuries that Larry sustained as a result of his efforts to save his wife resulted in him being "life-flighted" unconscious to a local hospital.

Unfortunately and unbeknownst to Larry at the time, the real injuries that he was about to suffer were just about to begin.  Eventually, Larry was charged with murder as the result of the "Keystonian" efforts of a group of bungling, incompetent and in some instances the dishonest conduct of various public officials, which as you'll see is more fully set forth below.

Shoddy [aka, grossly incompetent] Criminal Investigation

At the outset of their lame impersonation of the "Keystone Cops," the criminal investigators destroyed or failed to review critical evidence, some of which was of an exculpatory nature [proved Larry's innocence].  Of course when dealing with high profile cases, prosecutors are more interested in quickly pinning the blame on someone than they are in assuring that justice is actually served.  Put simply, the prosecutor was more interested in "dispensing with justice" that he was in actually "dispensing justice."  In this case, Larry became the perfect scapegoat for the prosecution to play the time-honored game of "pin-the-blame-on-the-innocent."

Manufacturing Evidence 101

The prosecutor employed retired Columbus, Ohio policeman Harold Crabtree as an investigator.  During an investigation of the accident scene, the lower dentures of Mrs. Brown were allegedly found.  On November  11, 1996, Crabtree prepared a report regarding Mrs. Brown's lower denture, which he then submitted to prosecutor Charles Gerken.

To assure Larry's conviction, detective Crabtree made the following false statements in his 1996 report:

Subsequently, Mr. Downey made the following statements regarding Crabtree's 1996 report:

When the trial judge was made aware that detective Crabtree had "manufactured" his report [evidence] he became quite upset and then made the following statement on the record:

"But if he [Mr. Downey] says something different on this point from Mr. Crabtree, I am going to instruct the prosecutor to pursue an indictment against somebody for perjury if that happens because this is a murder case and it is a very important matter and to say you took dentures to somebody and didn't, if that happens, it is very serious.  No doubt about it and we will make sure that this is a part of the court record."

As could be expected, Crabtree was never held accountable for manufacturing evidence in a murder case.  Of course the prosecutor who was more than happy to utilize Crabtree's fabricated/manufactured report to wrongfully prosecute Larry never called Crabtree to the witness stand after the Judge said someone was guilty of perjury.  Had Larry's attorney not discovered that Crabtree's report was a total fabrication, it cannot be disputed that the prosecutor would have been more than happy to have put Crabtree on the witness stand while he cheerfully elicited false testimony from him [suborned perjury] in his unconscionable zeal to wrongfully convict an innocent man. Remember folks, the mantra of many prosecutors is to win at all costs and if a few innocent folks go to jail or become a "freedom-fry" in lieu of a "french-fry" [politically correct if you will], then so be it.

Soot in Mrs. Brown's Lungs? - Misconduct of Coroner Patrick Fardal

At the outset of this case, the medical examiner [coroner] Patrick Fardal of Franklin County, Ohio [Columbus] testified that during his autopsy he discovered "soot" in Mrs. Brown's lungs, which was then determined to be evidence that Larry was not guilty of murder.  [soot in the lungs proved she was alive after the accident and after the Jeep was engulfed in flames]  Fardal's egregious misconduct is as follows:

  1. Fardal later changed his testimony [lied] claiming that there was "no-soot" in Mrs. Brown's lungs [meaning she was dead before the Jeep Wrangler became engulfed in flame - thereby falsely implying that Larry killed her]

  2. Fardal illegally disposed of Mrs. Brown's lungs [Ohio law required them to be retained for 6 months], thereby denying Larry the opportunity to prove to the jury that there was in fact "soot in her lungs" when the Wrangler caught on fire

  3. Fardal deliberately concealed from the jury that he had a personal relationship with Larry's wife prior to the accident.  More importantly, when he ruled "soot in the lung's" he didn't know the identity of the deceased.  It was only "after" he discovered it was his friend Mrs. Brown did he change his findings - Yeah, I found soot - No I didn't.   What a despicable person!  Fardal knowingly abused his public trust and oath of office to target an innocent man because he had a relationship with the man's wife.  The audacity to keep this highly relevant fact hidden from the judge and jury is profoundly sickening.

  4. At the murder trial, Fardal testified that he never took any X-Rays of Mrs. Brown, which is a stunning admission. 

  5. Two-days before the murder trial, a detective with a conscious contacted Larry and told him that Fardal was lying that he didn't take any X-Rays.  He told Larry to have his lawyer go the coroner's office and he would find X-Ray's, one of which would prove that Mrs. Brown was wearing the $10,000.00 wedding ring Larry bought when they married.  The detective then told Larry they're trying to set you up!

  6. What kind of doctor would knowingly lie in order to frame someone for murder?  Oh, I forgot to mention that Fardal is also a lawyer!

After Larry told his lawyer about the call from this detective, he went to the Coroner's office and obtained copies of the X-Ray's that Fardal-the-liar denied under oath existed.  Was Fardal prosecuted for perjury?  Of course not since he was an upstanding member of the Legal Fraternity!

As a result of Ronald Downey's testimony, the flip-flopping [aka, perjury] of Fardal and the fact that he manufactured evidence, the jury retired and in a very short period of time, and unanimously [12 to Zip] found Larry not guilty.

And what punishment did Fardal and Crabtree receive for manufacturing evidence and testifying falsely in order to wrongfully convict Larry of a murder he never committed?  Yeah, you're right.  Nothing happened to them.  Fardal continued to work as a Coroner and was allowed to keep his law license.  Who says lying and cheating doesn't pay?  Not Fardal!  He was rewarded last year with a fat-juicy lifetime retirement compliments of the overtaxed citizens of Ohio.

Frivolous Wrongful Death Civil Claim against Larry Brown

Seventeen months after Larry was deemed not guilty of murder, a money grubbing and highly unethical attorney [is there another kind?] by the name of Michael Irwin filed an "intentional" wrongful death civil suit against Larry.

Larry then made the monumental error of employing attorney Terry Van Horn.  The gross negligence [legal malpractice] that Van Horn visited upon Larry prior to, during and after the civil trial is as follows:

  1. Failed to assert that under Ohio law the lawsuit was barred because it was not filed within one-year of Mrs. Brown's untimely death [Judge Thompson said that had Van Horn so acted at the trial, he would have dismissed the lawsuit]

  2. Failed to file an appropriate motion with the trial court to have the case dismissed because it wasn't filed within the one (1) year statute of limitations regarding intentional wrongful death civil actions

  3. At the trial he failed to cross-examine detective Crabtree in order to expose to the jury the undisputed fact that he had fabricated a false report [evidence] in his zeal to have Larry wrongfully convicted of murder 

  4. Failed to protect the record at the trial level for appellate court review by objecting at the trial to the trial court's erroneous exclusion of evidence that would have proven Larry innocent

Sadly, as a direct result of Van Horn's astounding ignorance of the law [dumbass] and gross negligence, Larry lost and a judgment of nearly $1 million was awarded to the son of his deceased wife.

Diamond in the Rough?

At the time of her untimely death, Mrs. Brown was wearing a $10,000.00 diamond wedding ring that Larry purchased for her.  During the autopsy process, photos were taken proving she was wearing the diamond ring; however, these photos and the ring "magically" disappeared prior to the trial.

The $10,000.00 ring was never accounted for by the coroner's office even though photos taken by his office proved that Mrs. Brown was wearing the ring when he examined her.

On October 14, 1997, Dirk G. Wood, M.D. wrote a letter confirming that he had examined X-Rays of Mrs. Brown that verified/confirmed she was wearing her diamond ring at the time of her autopsy.

Subsequently, Larry's insurer reimbursed him for the costs of the diamond ring; however, nobody at the coroner's office was ever subjected to an investigation or prosecuted for stealing Mrs. Brown's ring. 

Misconduct of Retired Judge Tommy Thompson of Columbus, Ohio

Just prior to the civil trial beginning, the trial judge "magically" claimed that she couldn't preside over it.  Retired judge Tommy Thompson was then assigned to preside over the civil wrongful death trial.  Thompson agreed to preside over the trial despite the fact that he didn't have a clue as to the issues in the case. 

During the trial Thompson allowed evidence to be introduced by plaintiff's attorney Michael Irwin even though the original judge had ruled it was "inadmissible."  This buffoon did so without even reviewing the prior judge's ruling and the basis for it. 

During the trial, Thompson also repeatedly shut the trial down so that he could spend valuable time doing the following:

  1. Go golfing and play poker with ex-justice J. Craig Wright

  2. Have his hearing checked out [Trifecta Tommy - deaf, dumb and dishonest]

  3. Travel to Westerville's Mayor's Court to collect $400 as a magistrate dealing with traffic tickets [twice]

  4. Closed the trial down so he could handle some legal matters for another judge while the jury waited [jurors historically punish someone when they are made to waste their time waiting for a trial to conclude, which was well known to "Trifecta Tommy"

It should be remembered that while Trifecta Tommy was collecting $400 from Westerville for working an hour or less, he also collected a full day's pay [double-billing] from Columbus for spending a couple of hours at Larry's trial.  Honest people have to actually work 16 hours to receive 16 hours pay, right?  Not Trifecta Tommy!  He believes he's entitled to 8 hours pay for doing absolutely nothing.  Trifecta Tommy say, "to hell with the taxpayers in Ohio and Columbus."

Repeatedly shutting down Larry's trial so that he could double-bill both Westerville and Columbus proves beyond all doubt that Thompson was more concerned about unjustly enriching himself than he was in assuring that Larry received a fair trial by a jurist that had spent sufficient time to review the extensive file in the case and act accordingly.

After an extensive review of Thompson's wage and travel expense reports from 1996 through 2004, I discovered that he made and continues to make the following false claims for compensation and travel expenses:

  1. Billed Franklin County [Columbus] several hundred times for parking even though Ohio law prohibits a retired judge from receiving any travel expenses for working in the County wherein he/she resides [Thompson lives in Franklin County]

  2. Billed the State of Ohio and Franklin County for well over 150 eight-hour days when his parking receipts proved that his average workday was about 3.0 hours

  3. Billed the State of Ohio and Franklin County for several thousands of dollars for wages when public records prove that all he did was act as a "standby" judge [Put simply, he admits he never performed any judicial services for the taxpayers]

Thompson's public record clearly proves that he is a "serial thief" in that he has repeatedly submitted false and fabricated claims for hours he never worked and/or for travel expenses that he absolutely knew were illegal under Ohio law.  This evidence in an of itself proves beyond all doubt that Thompson was and is unfit to sit in judgment of anyone.  In fact, he should be sitting in the Mansfield Correctional Facility for his serial felony thefts-in-office.

Despite Larry's repeated efforts to undo the deplorable injustices visited upon him by a judge proven to be an "ethical derelict," his efforts have fallen on deaf ears. 

Gross Negligence of Ex-Ohio Supreme Court Justice J. Craig Wright

After being victimized by Van Horn's stupidity and gross incompetence prior to, during and after the civil wrongful death trial, Larry was unfortunately persuaded by Van Horn to employ the services Ex-Ohio Supreme Court Justice J. Craig Wright.

J. Craig Wright is also an infamous ethical dwarf as the following proves:

  1. While sitting on the Supreme Court in the nineties, he punched out a fellow justice

  2. While appointed to investigate attorney misconduct, he repeatedly filed unlawful claims for travel expenses

  3. While appointed as a visiting judge, he repeatedly billed for hours he never worked [aka, thief]

  4. Has repeatedly made false statements under oath

After the civil trial concluded, Van Horn and Wright had 30 days pursuant to Ohio law to file a notice of appeal.  Unbelievably, these "twins-towers of gross ignorance" forever proved that they were totally stupid by failing to file the notice on time.  In fact, they filed it 35 days after the trial, which was 5 days after Ohio law required it to be filed.  These two idiots are so stupid they can't even count to 14!  Sadly, their incompetence forever barred Larry from appealing the egregious misconduct of Judge Tommy Thompson.

To be fair to Justice J. Craig Wright, it may well have taken him 5 days to sober up and realize the "the gig was up" so to speak - at least for Larry it was. 

If our so-called Legal Industry was truly concerned with "true justice," this type of gross incompetence would not have been barred Larry from achieving justice through the appeals court.  The Industry should have adopted a rule allowing for an appeal when attorney's are so inept that they fail to file a notice of appeal within the 30 days allowed by law.  Of course this will never happen because it would only assure that citizens in Ohio could be fairly heard.  We certainly can't have that, can we?

The gross incompetence of Wright and Van Horn forever barred Larry from ever seeking appellate review of the intentional injustices visited upon him Tommy Thompson.

Larry's Legal Malpractice Lawsuit v. Van Horn and Justice J. Craig Wright

In 2002, Larry sued Van Horn and Wright for legal malpractice as a result of their failure to timely file a motion for a new trial and notice of appeal.

Even though court records proved "beyond all doubt" that Justice Wright entered an appearance as counsel for Larry and engaged in oral arguments before the Court of Appeals and the trial court, this ethical leper had the audacity to file a sworn affidavit falsely stating that he never represented Larry.  Based on Wright's false testimony [aka, perjury], his attorney had the chutzpah to use it in support of a motion to have Larry's malpractice case dismissed.   The main point of Wright's motion was that "he was never Larry's lawyer," therefore, he could not be liable to someone who was never his client.

Larry responded to Wright's motion to dismiss by filing the following with the trial court:

  1. Motion to find Wright in contempt for falsely testifying he wasn't Larry's lawyer [Larry attached legal papers signed by Wright that he filed in Court stating he was Larry's lawyer]

  2. Asked the Court to rule that Wright's conduct constituted "gross malpractice" in failing to file notice of appeal within 30 days of the conclusion of the trial [actually filed it 35 days after trial ended, which was 5 days late]

  3. Asked the Court to rule that Wright's malpractice was so egregious that Larry would not be required to have an expert witness [lawyer] testify to this obvious fact

After the Court reviewed Wright's motion to dismiss and Larry's responses, it ruled as follows:

  1. Ruled that Wright's affidavit denying he was Larry's lawyer was false

  2. Denied Wright's motion to dismiss

  3. Ruled that Wright's conduct constituted gross legal malpractice [Is there another kind?]

  4. Ruled that Larry would not be required to call an expert witness [lawyer] to testify about Wright's negligence

Based on the trial court's rulings, Wright decided it was time to settle with Larry, which he subsequently did.  The terms of that settlement were sealed by the Court and are not available for publication in this article.

It should be noted that shortly after being sued for legal malpractice by Larry that, Van Horn filed for bankruptcy, closed his law office, fired his legal assistant and went to work as a real estate salesman for HER Realty in Columbus.  In his bankruptcy filing, Van Horn claimed that after 35 years of practicing law he had "no assets."  Unfortunately for Larry, Ohio is one of the few states that doesn't require an attorney to carry legal malpractice insurance . 

Larry's Further Attempts to Obtain Justice

Over the past several years, Larry has bravely attempted to undo the appalling injustices visited upon as a direct result of the egregious misconduct of the attorneys and judges named above.  Those attempts, which continue as of this writing [April 2006] are as follows:

In 2002, Larry filed a motion to have the misconduct of Judge Tommy Thompson reviewed and his judgment against him voided as a direct result of Thompson's misconduct as set forth above.  This motion and subsequent hearing was presided over by Judge Gregory Frost of Columbus.  Despite overwhelming evidence of (a) fraud on the court by Van Horn, (b) egregious misconduct by Judge Thompson, and (c) false testimony of various witnesses, Frost denied Larry's motion.  Frost in effect ruled that fraud on the court and Tommy Thompson's well-documented misconduct was irrelevant.  How nice of Frosty to so act!  And what was Frosty's reward for so acting?  He was appointed to a lifetime job on the Federal Court in Columbus where he can now victimize people with impunity into the unseen future.

In 2005, Larry filed a civil suit against Barry Snow (Mrs. Brown's son) and others for fraud and other egregious misconduct.  This case was assigned to Judge Gregory Peterson in Columbus.  To date, Judge Peterson has done absolutely nothing to right the despicable wrongs visited upon Larry by a group of assorted ethical lepers, including Judge Tommy Thompson.

In this case, Larry provided evidence to Judge Peterson that Barry Snow gave false testimony at the civil wrongful death trial and in the process perpetrated a fraud upon the court.  The fraud upon the court was assisted by Snow's attorney Michael Irwin, an accomplished liar who will say or do anything to enrich himself, which includes suborning false testimony and fabricating false evidence at trial.

Judge Peterson has not yet found anything wrong with Snow's false trial testimony [premeditated cheating/fraud on the court, etc.]; however, we're hopeful he will and that justice will finally triumph over fraud on the court.  The same is true of attorney Irwin's deplorable conduct in perpetrating a fraud upon the court. 

Sadly for Larry, complaining to a Judge about the misconduct of another Judge and/or an Officer of the Court is akin to complaining to John Gotti about the collection technique's employed by his criminal underlings.  Putting Judges in charge of judging the conduct of other judges and attorneys is like putting Jeffrey Dahmer in charge of catering!

We Need Closure - So Sayeth the Legal Industry!

In Larry's ongoing struggle to obtain justice, we repeatedly hear so-called Judges mouth the obscene words "We need closure" in dismissing out-of-hand overwhelming evidence of fraud upon the court in obtaining judgments.   We also hear Judges proclaim on the record that there "must be an end to litigation" and that evidence of fraud upon the court should have been disclosed early on.  This is an asinine argument to say the least. 

When dishonest lawyers and judges conspire to defraud a litigant it is obvious that they go out of their way to conceal their fraudulent conduct from the victim or victims.  Obviously, it may well take years before the victim obtains sufficient evidence to prove the fraud.  In many instances, the victim is never able to obtain evidence of fraud.  To suggest that there should be a limitation on the time that a litigant can expose a "fraud upon the court" is obscene at best.  When courts ignore said evidence they are in fact facilitators of the fraud!  In fact, such Courts are sending a message to crooked lawyers that they will be allowed to retain the fruits (money) obtained as a result of said fraudulent behavior.

A judgment obtained because of perjured testimony and/or fabricated facts cannot be allowed to stand when the victim provides clear and convincing evidence of said fraud to a Court.  Any Judge who rules otherwise should be immediately removed from the bench!

Conclusion

This travesty of justice isn't over.  I will continue to report on Larry's continued efforts to receive justice.  Maybe and just maybe, the day will come in Ohio when some honest Judge [we're hoping it will be Judge Peterson] will stand up and say "enough is enough" and give Larry the justice he has so patiently waited for and so richly deserves.  It's never too late Judge Peterson!

The massive fraud on the court perpetrated by numerous public officials, all of whom took an oath of office to uphold the laws and constitutions of Ohio and the United States undermines the public's confidence in the justice system.  There can be no justice when public officials are willing to engage in unethical and/or unlawful conduct to wrongfully convict an innocent man of murder.  It is indeed a sad commentary on the state of our justice system that those who would knowingly manipulate the truth to meet unjust needs are never brought before the bar of justice to answer for their egregious misdeeds.

Lastly, I'm hopeful that Judge Peterson will make the likes of weasels like Barry Snow, Mr. Fardal,  and unethical attorneys like Terry Van Horn and Michael Irwin face the bar of justice and answer for their despicable and perverted conduct, all of which was aimed at perpetrating a fraud upon the Court.