BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati officials this week said the police officer who acknowledged removing nude photos from a woman's home during an unrelated search "at all times acted in conformity with the law."
It was the city's formal response to a civil rights suit from April James.
Even after the photos were passed around District 4 and Spc. John Horn lied to regain entry to Ms. James' home in Walnut Hills and sneak the pictures back into her bedroom, the city said, he acted "with legal justification."
Her rights were not violated and U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel should dismiss her complaint against the city and officers, assistant solicitor Mark S. Yurick and special counsels Donald E. Hardin and Michael B. Bach said.
Failing a settlement, the case probably will go to trial in late 1999 or 2000.
Police searched her home after arresting her then-boyfriend, Kevin Terry.
She learned the photos were being passed around after her father, a District 5 officer, heard about it.
An independent city investigation concluded the seizure was neither an accident nor proper. Spc. Horn was given a
written reprimand. Ms. James is suing Spc. Horn, police officials and the city for invasion of privacy.
