After deliberating for two days, a Hamilton County jury Tuesday convicted photographer Thomas Condon and former deputy coroner Dr. Jonathan Tobias of taking unauthorized photos of autopsied bodies posed with inanimate objects, including sheet music, an apple and a snail shell.

Thomas Condon leaves the courtroom with an unidentified woman after he was found guilty of eight counts of abuse of a corpse. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        The nine women and three men found Mr. Condon, 29, guilty of eight counts. Dr. Tobias, 31, was convicted of two counts.

        The pair will remain free on bond until they are sentenced Dec. 13 by Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel. They could each face up to a year in prison on each charge.

        Dr. Tobias could also lose his medical license as a result of Tuesday's verdict.

        Defense attorneys said they will appeal.

        “We didn't think the case should have gone to the jury at all. There was no credible evidence to convict Dr. Tobias on any count,” said defense attorney Marc Mezibov.

        Mr. Condon, through his attorney, H. Louis Sirkin, declined comment. He appeared distraught as he left the courtroom with friends and family.

        Mr. Condon and Dr. Tobias had each been charged with a dozen counts of abusing corpses stemming from hundreds of photos taken between August 2000 and January. They were found not guilty of the other counts.

        Some of the images showed the hands of a 2-year-old boy wrapped with plastic. In another, a man's body was posed with an apple, while another showed a woman with a key between her lips.

        Mr. Condon was accused of taking the posed photos without authorization. Dr. Tobias was accused of helping him gain access to the bodies.

        Throughout the two-week trial, defense attorneys denied their clients had done anything wrong. Mr. Condon, they said, had permission to photograph the bodies for an artistic project and had informed morgue officials of his intentions.

Tobias

        Dr. Tobias, they said, was a scapegoat to cover up administrative snafus inside the coroner's office.

        Mr. Condon was allowed inside the morgue in August 2000 as part of a plan to update a training video on autopsy procedures. He told morgue officials that he hoped to complete a still-life photo project on the “cycle of life.”

        He offered to do the video in exchange for access to the bodies.

        According to testimony, it was later decided that an updated video would not be made because of budget constraints.

        However, testimony showed no one shared this with Mr. Condon or any of the staff pathologists and morgue attendants. In addition, officials did not rescind Mr. Condon's access to the morgue.

        According to testimony, the two men became friends after learning they shared an interest in photography.

        Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf, the morgue's chief deputy coroner and Coroner Carl Parrott's second-in-command, testified that he and two other staff pathologists urged Dr. Parrott not to suspend Dr. Tobias because the one-year fellow had done nothing wrong. Dr. Tobias, like everyone else at the morgue, thought Mr. Condon had clearance, he said.

        Dr. Parrott testified, though, he knew Dr. Tobias was involved and had to be removed from the office. He said Mr. Condon was never authorized to place objects on bodies as part of his photographs.

        Police were contacted when a film processor developed 50 to 60 pictures taken by Mr. Condon. Dr. Tobias resigned from his position after his training period ended.

        As the verdicts were read, both men sat stoically, while their relatives and friends watched in dismay.

        In a press release, Dr. Parrott called the trial a “harrowing experience”

        “We trusted these men to behave in an upright and honorable fashion, in the manner expected of professionals, also within the limits of their authority. They did not,” he said.

        Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen called the trial a “particularly nasty case” in which defense attorneys “impugned the integrity of the prosecutor's office.”

        The tension between opposing sides was evident throughout the trial.

        Dr. Tobias and Mr. Condon face a civil suit filed on behalf of the survivors of those in Mr. Condon's photos. Many of those family members declined comment.

        However, Denise Gary, whose uncle, Eddie Gibson was pictured in crime scene photos seized by police, said she was pleased by Tuesday's verdict.

        Though her uncle's photos were not part of the 12 charges against Mr. Condon and Dr. Tobias, she attended the trial.

        “We hated that we had to go through this,” she said. “We wanted to leave our dead dead. But we're satisfied with the verdict. Now, we can put this behind us.”

        The Associated Press contributed.

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