Saturday, May 27, 2000
Eraser caper sends lawyer to slammer
Blackboard fumble called contempt
By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Edward Felson armed himself with an eraser, took aim at the blackboard and rubbed out everything in sight.
Edward Felson
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By the time the Cincinnati attorney had finished, a horrified prosecutor was speechless and a furious judge was calling in the sheriff.
And Mr. Felson was on his way to jail.
The bizarre scene played out Thursday in Hamilton County Municipal Court as Mr. Felson erased a chalk diagram that was an important part of a jury trial.
He wiped out most of the diagram — including the bold red words “DO NOT ERASE” — before anyone realized what he was doing.
Judge Ralph E. Winkler responded by declaring Mr. Felson in contempt of court and sending him to jail for a night.
It was the first time in at least a decade that a Hamilton County lawyer went to jail for contempt.
“I was taken out in cuffs like a prisoner, like I murdered somebody,” Mr. Felson said after his release Friday morning. “I don't know why the judge did this.”
Judge Winkler said he had good reasons: Mr. Felson destroyed a trial exhibit, disrupted his courtroom and showed little remorse for his actions.
“He didn't seem very sorry about it,” the judge said. “He kind of had an attitude.”
The trouble started shortly after Mr. Felson walked into Judge Winkler's courtroom about 10 a.m. He was there to represent a client in a traffic case.
Almost immediately, he headed for the blackboard. His plan was to use the board to draw a diagram illustrating his traffic case.
So while court was in session on another case, Mr. Felson began erasing.
The judge said the diagram was essential to the trial he was handling that day because it showed great detail and would be reviewed by the jury as an exhibit.
Melanie Reising, the city prosecutor on the trial, yelled at Mr. Felson to “get out” when she saw what he was doing.
“I can tell you I was stricken when I noticed that he had erased the exhibit,” Ms. Reising said later at Mr. Felson's contempt hearing.
Although she eventually won the case, Ms. Reising said she could not reconstruct everything that had been on the board. Mr. Felson said he just didn't see the red-lettered warning.
“I didn't realize how important it was,” he said Friday. “I made a mistake.”
At his contempt hearing, however, Mr. Felson hinted that it was not entirely his fault. If the board was so important, he said, it should have been placed in the judge's office.
The judge said Mr. Felson has no one to blame but himself.
“I would like Mr. Felson to clean up his act and quit being so slack in the way he presents his cases,” the judge scolded.
Ironically, Mr. Felson's only other contempt citation came a few years ago when Judge Winkler's father, appellate judge Ralph Winkler, fined him $100 for being late for a trial.
The younger Judge Winkler, who has been on the bench for a year, said it was the first time he had cited anyone for contempt — let alone sent a lawyer to jail for it.
Under Ohio law, contempt is defined as anything that interferes with the “administration of justice.” Mr. Felson, 43, said he will appeal the decision.
The lawyer, who suffers from hepatitis C, said he spent the night in a cold cell with no blanket. “It was freezing,” Mr. Felson said. “I've never been to jail. It was a terrible experience.”
Judge Winkler said he has no regrets about his decision.
“He put me in a really bad spot,” the judge said.
Mr. Felson said he got the worst of it.
“It's very bad for my reputation,” he said. “It's very embarrassing.”
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