OH: ensuring effective assistance trumps hurrying the docket

Good news from John Wesley Hall, Jr.'s Law of Criminal Defense:

OH11: Brian Jones contempt case reversed

Where the public defender was appointed the day before trial and requested a continuance to prepare, it was an abuse of discretion to deny a continuance and hold defense counsel in contempt for not proceeding to trial where he would have been ineffective per se...

Previous items about the wrath of Plough here.

Update from the Record-Courier: Plough ruling overturned by appeals court. Second time Portage judge overruled in two weeks

OH: Judge Plough -" We all must accept some blame for what happened here"

More from the Record Courier:

Plough fines public defender $100 on contempt charge

Assistant Portage County Public Defender Brian Jones was ordered to pay $100 and court costs Friday at his sentencing hearing on a charge of contempt of court leveled last week by Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough. Plough immediately delayed the sentence pending an appeal.

Jones, who was surrounded by family, friends and fellow attorneys at Friday's sentencing, was cited for contempt after he told Plough in court Aug. 16 that he was unprepared to move forward on a misdemeanor assault case scheduled two months prior but only given to the Portage County Public Defender's Office the day before.

Jones also was ordered to pay $48.50 in restitution to two witnesses who had to skip work that day to attend the trial.

Cleveland attorney Ian Friedman, brought on to defend Jones in the sentencing hearing, had earlier argued Jones did not intend to obstruct the justice of Plough's court, nor had he ever misbehaved prior to this incident. "The charge is in direct contention with the (law's) requirement of willful disobedience" that can lead to a charge of contempt, Friedman argued. "Brian Jones had no business trying to move forward on that trial."

Plough said he might have been convinced to continue the trial after the prosecution presented its case to allow Jones more time to prepare a defense.

"The court does make exceptions in the interest of justice," Plough said, later adding "this court has to be concerned with everybody's discipline in the criminal justice system ... We all must accept some blame for what happened here."

Plough told Jones he was not upset with the young lawyer who passed the bar earlier this year and has only been a public defender for four months. Plough said he had seen Jones in action in two jury trials that resulted in not guilty verdicts for Jones' clients. "You have a very bright future. You showed more poise than many attorneys I've known who've been practicing law for many years," Plough said...

More from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Contempt upheld for Ohio public defender

OH: $100 & costs for p.d. "contempt"

From Recordpub.com:

Plough fines public defender $100 and costs on contempt charge

Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough fined Assistant Portage County Public Defender Brian Jones $100 plus court costs at a sentencing hearing Friday on a charge of contempt of court stemming from Jones not going forward with a court case Aug. 16. Plough also suspended three days in jail and ordered Jones to pay $48.50 in restitution...

OH: "Judge Plough is absolutely wrong"

From Recordpub.com:

Lager planning lawyer's defense - Portage defender confident of win

Portage County's top public defender will be in court Friday to defend one of his employees on a contempt of court charge leveled by Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough.

Controversy continues to brew over Plough charging Assistant Public Defender Brian Jones with contempt for refusing to go forward with representing a defendant in a misdemeanor assault case on less than 24 hours notice.

Portage County Public Defender Dennis Lager said his office is "very comfortable in the manner in which we are conducting ourselves and that we are appropriate and correct in our legal and ethical obligations" to clients, and will continue to provide legal counsel to defendants per their Sixth Amendment rights.

"Judge Plough is absolutely wrong. There was no contempt of court by Mr. Jones," Lager said Tuesday, adding his office "relishes the opportunity" to prove it in court...

"Whereas we are officers of the court, we are not pawns of the court," Lager said. "You can't just have counsel sit there like a potted plant and presume to follow the Sixth Amendment."

OH: justice held hostage update from Portage County

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Portage County Judge Plough criticized for arrest of public defender

A controversial Portage County judge has drawn the ire of national and state lawyers associations because he ordered the arrest of a county public defender. Judge John Plough ordered sheriff's deputies Wednesday to take Assistant Public Defender Brian Jones into custody because he was not prepared to go to trial. He was held five hours be fore he was released on bond...

See also National lawyers group condemns Portage County judge for arresting public defender

OH: "the public defender's office is not going to impede justice in Portage County"

From the Record-Courier:

Plough has public defender arrested - Attorney told judge he was not ready to try case he had for less than a day

Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough ordered a Portage County public defender placed under arrest for contempt of court Thursday. The order was given after the attorney said he was unprepared and unable to begin a scheduled trial, having only been appointed to represent a defendant the day before the trial was scheduled to begin.

Brian Jones, an employee of Portage County Public Defender Dennis Lager since May, was held in contempt of court during an afternoon trial at Portage County Municipal Court in Kent after he told Plough he was unable to go forward with the trial. Plough ordered a Portage County Sheriff's deputy to remove Jones from his courtroom in front of his client, spectators and courthouse employees...

Via John Wesley Hall Jr.s' Law of Criminal Defense.