Thursday, July 08, 1999
Falsely accused, man sues Hamilton
Predator label was libel, he says
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A man wrongly accused of being a sexual predator sued Hamilton County on Tuesday, saying officials violated his rights and libeled him.
David Jackson Jr., 41, of Tamarack Avenue, Evanston, is seeking unspecified damages in the suit filed by attorneys Konrad Kircher and Alan L. Sirkin in U.S. District Court.
They said Common Pleas Judge Thomas Nurre wrongly labeled Mr. Jackson a sexual predator in June, 1997, “under the mistaken belief, advanced by the Hamilton County prosecuting attorney,” that Mr. Jackson's 1990 conviction involved a sex offense.
The law was new at the time,Judge Nurre recalled on Wednesday, and based on what he was told, he believed that Mr. Jackson's abduction conviction was grounds for declaring him to be a sexual predator.
As a result of that error two years ago, Mr. Jackson suffered twice, his attorneys said:
• His release from state prison — where he was serving 5 to 10 years for abduction — may have been delayed, “thus depriving him of his liberty.”
• When Mr. Jackson was re leased in January, 1999, the sheriff's staff sent sex offender notification letters to Cincinnati-area day care centers.
However, in March, 1999, attorney Fred Hoefle persuaded Judge Nurre to drop the sexual predator designation, but no one retracted the sheriff's warning letters.
The abduction involved an adult woman, not a minor, and there was no sex attempted or involved, Mr. Hoefle said on Wednesday. “It could not be a sexual offense under the law.”
Mr. Hoefle praised prosecutor William Breyer's cooperation and said the reversal in March “was one of those rare occasions when the lawyer, the prosecutor and the court worked together.”
Mr. Hoefle said the predator issue was raised by state prison officials when Mr. Jackson became eligible for parole.
Someone saw “abduction” on his record, assumed it was a sex crime, and sent Mr. Jackson and his case back for action, he said.
Mr. Hoefle could not say why Mr. Jackson's court-appointed lawyer failed to explain that the abduction did not fall under the sex crime/predator laws.
No one from the county was available for comment Wednesday on Mr. Jackson's civil rights and libel claims.
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