Tuesday, July 20, 1999
Juvenile judge must decide: Is teen a victim or attacker?
Prosecutor wants both sides in fight punished
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A court hearing today may determine whether the justice system considers John Maupin a victim or an assailant.
Prosecutors say they will ask a Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge to reject Mr. Maupin's request to dismiss assault charges against him.
Mr. Maupin contends the charges are unfair because they were filed after police told him he acted in self-defense when he punched anoth er teen-ager during a fight.
The charges stem from a fistfight in 1997 between Mr. Maupin, then 17, and two other teen-agers. Mr. Maupin says the fight occurred on his Symmes Township property after he warned the others not to approach.
When they did, his attorney says, Mr. Maupin punched one in the face, causing the teen to hit his head on the pavement.
Prosecutors then used evidence from an interview with Mr. Maupin against the other teens.
A former assistant prosecutor, Joni Statzer, gave a sworn statement claiming it was a conflict of interest for prosecutors to pursue charges against Mr. Maupin while portraying him as a victim in the other case.
Prosecutors, however, say it was not a conflict to prosecute participants on both sides of the fight.
They also claim Ms. Statzer was asked to leave her job with the prosecutor's office last year and now has a bias against her former employer.
“She has an obvious and very visceral bias against this office,” Prosecutor Mike Allen said Monday.
He said the only conflict of interest in the case is Ms. Statzer's work on behalf of Mr. Maupin, whom she met while prosecuting the other teens in the case.
Ms. Statzer disputes that she was asked to leave the prosecutor's office, saying she left voluntarily.
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