Thursday, May 20, 1999
Ventura's dismissal request denied
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A judge rejected another request Wednesday to throw out charges against the lawyer accused of stealing voice-mail messages from Chiquita Brands International Inc.
The ruling by Judge Ann Marie Tracey is the latest in a series of decisions that have upheld the charges against George Ventura, a former Chiquita legal counsel.
The judge ruled that the charges are clear and do not violate Mr. Ventura's constitutional rights.
Mr. Ventura is accused of providing the secret codes that allowed former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher to access Chiquita's voice-mail system. Some of the information Mr. Gallagher obtained from the voice-mail system later appeared in articles he wrote about the company's business practices.
The newspaper renounced the articles last year and fired Mr. Gallagher, claiming the reporter had deceived his editors about how he obtained the information.
For several months, Mr. Ventura's attorneys have repeatedly asked Judge Tracey to throw out the charges against their client. Mr. Ventura is charged with five counts of unlawful interception of communications and five counts of unauthorized access to computer systems.
In their latest request, his attorneys argued that those laws are “unconstitutionally broad and void for vagueness.”
The attorneys, Marc Mezibov and John Feldmeier, said the wording of the law is confusing and does not clearly define the crime. Specifically, they said, the law does not adequately describe what it means to “intercept” a wire communication.
The judge, however, said the law is clear and is defined with words commonly used in everyday language.The judge said she would wait to rule until she hears more evidence.
Mr. Ventura is scheduled for trial in July. Mr. Gallagher has pleaded guilty to two felony charges and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors by naming Mr. Ventura as a source for his articles, which were later renounced by the Enquirer.
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Ventura's dismissal request denied
