In his ongoing quest to clear his name, a former Cincinnati police officer scored landed a victory Tuesday when a Hamilton County judge agreed to expunge his criminal record.

        But the decision to clear the record of expungement of Officer Robert “Blaine” Jorg's record angeredoutraged the family of Roger Owensby Jr...

        The 29-year-old College Hill man died Nov. 7, 2000, in police custody. No one has been able to prove who is responsible for his death.

Roger Owensby Sr. angrily addresses the judge after Tuesday's hearing expunging Officer Jorg's record. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        “It's just too much, just too much,” Roger Owensby Sr. said while banging his fist on a window sill outside of Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Nurre's courtroom Tuesday. “He can walk away, kill my son like its nothing.”

        Judge Nurre said his decision was made “in view of the law as it exists.”

        In October, Officer Jorg was found not guilty of assault in the asphyxiation death of the younger Mr. Owensby. He'd also been charged with involuntary manslaughter, but jurors deadlocked on that charge.

        Prosecutors declined to retry him on the more serious charge.

        Officer Jorg, who now works as a police officer in Clermont County's Pierce Township, had been accused of causing Mr. Owensby's death by placing him in a chokehold while officers struggled to arrest him.

        “That prosecutor let him go,” said a visibly upset Mr. Owensby, who was the only family member present at Tuesday's proceeding. “(Hamilton County Prosecutor) Mike Allen promised he would retry him.”

        Mr. Allen said prosecutors did not promise a retrial. He said his office considered all the factors in the case — including the hung jury that voted 10-2 to acquit Officer Jorg — before opting not to retry.

        “I certainly understand Mr. Owensby's frustration — he lost his son,” Mr. Allen said. “But we did not make that commitment. What we said was that we would look at the evidence and base our decision on that.”

        Officer Jorg, 30, did not attend Tuesday's hearing. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.

        During his trial, he contended he never had his arms around Mr. Owensby's neck. Instead, he said, he had a “head wrap” on the man.

        Another Cincinnati police officer, Patrick Caton, also was acquitted of assault in the Owensby death. A Cincinnati Police Department internal investigation into both officers' actions is pending.

        Prosecutors Tuesday did not fight the expungement request.

        Expungements — the erasing or sealing the case from public view court records, online databases or other information sources — are fairly common for people acquitted of a crime, first-time offenders and those who do not have serious drug- or violence-related convictions. Judges in Hamilton County usually grant about 1,000 expungements a year.

        In the past year, an expungement also was granted to former Cincinnati police Oofficer Stephen Roach, who'd been accused in the April 2001 shooting death of Timothy Thomas, the uan unarmed black man fleeing police whose death sparked the riots of April, 2001.

        Mr. Owensby's outburst came shortly after Judge Nurre's ruling, taking those in the courtroom by surprise.

        The judge advised Mr. Owensby that his comments would not be part of the court record because a decision had already been made. Nevertheless, Mr. Owensby continued to speak.

        “I just want to know why,” he said, questioning the prosecution's failure to retry Officer Jorg.

        Judge Nurre stopped Mr. Owensby, saying he was sorry for his loss but again that the matter was over.

        Outside the courtroom, Mr. Owensby expressed disappointment and indignation. He blamed “the whole system,” and he accused prosecutors of failing to use all the evidence — including security tapes from the Roselawn gas station where his son was killed — during last year's trial.

        “I just want the truth,” Mr. Owensby said. “I don't want to make it a black-white issue. It's a right-wrong issue, and they were wrong.”

        Civil lawsuits stemming from the Owensby death are ongoing.

        Officer Jorg has filed suit several lawsuits, one in federal court against the county and the coroner's officer, and filed a defamation lawsuit in state court against an activist group he contends harmed his reputation.

        The Owensbys have filed a wrongful death suit in federal court against the city, police department and officers at the scene.

        “It's not over yet,” Mr. Owensby said. “They just didn't want to find an officer guilty of murder in Cincinnati.” ... But that's what Jorg did — murdered my son.”

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