A 43-year-old Green Township woman, charged with perjury for allegedly changing her testimony during a trial, contends she is being selectively prosecuted because she is a civilian, not a police officer.

        Laura Miller wants Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ann Marie Tracey to dismiss the charge against her in light of reports that a Cincinnati police officer admitted to lying under oath during the October involuntary manslaughter trial of former Cincinnati Police Officer Robert Jorg. The officer has not been charged with perjury.

        Prosecutors contend Ms. Miller's claims are erroneous and that her situation does not compare to the allegations facing Cincinnati Police Officer Victor Spellen.

        A 10 a.m. hearing is scheduled in the Miller case today.

        Ms. Miller's attorney, Jay Clark, hopes to convince Judge Tracey that his client's contentions merit an evidentiary hearing. A trial date has

        been scheduled for September in the event Ms. Miller's request is unsuccessful.

        Ms. Miller is accused of giving false testimony in the trial of a west side doctor and his wife, who were both accused of illegally obtaining prescription drugs.

        According to her attorney, Ms. Miller is accused of testifying

        before a grand jury that the doctor asked her to obtain prescription drugs in her name for him. But during a March trial, she said he did not ask her to do this.

        As a result, the doctor and his wife were acquitted following the bench trial before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge David Davis.

        Mr. Clark said his client's testimony technically did not change. She gave what she thought was truthful testimony before the grand jury. But between the grand jury and the bench trial, she realized that it was a second person who told her the doctor wanted her to get prescriptions in her name for him, not the doctor himself.

        Ms. Miller believes that because Officer Spellen was accused of giving false testimony in the same way,

        the two cases are comparable.

        The prosecution disagrees, arguing that one case has nothing to do with the other.

        Officer Spellen, who admitted lying on the stand during an interview with internal police department investigators, has lost his police powers and now works desk duty in the telephone crime-reporting unit, pending the completion of an internal investigation.

        He has not been charged with perjury despite the differing statements officials said he admitted making about what Officer Jorg told him the night a 29-year-old College Hill man died of asphyxiation while in police custody. His testimony to the grand jury was that Officer Jorg's arm was wrapped tightly around the suspect's head. During the jury trial, he testified the hold was loose.

        A Hamilton County jury acquitted Officer Jorg of an underlying assault charge in the case and deadlocked on the more serious involuntary manslaughter charge.

        Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen has said the discrepancies in Officer Spellen's testimony before a grand jury and during the jury trial is not substantial enough to support a new trial for Officer Jorg, who now works with the Pierce Township Police Department in Clermont County.

        And, Officer Spellen cannot face a criminal perjury charge because he made his admissions under the auspices of the department's Rule 2.26. The rule stipulates that any officer forced to talk to internal investigators cannot be prosecuted for anything he says.

        Nevertheless, in court documents, Mr. Clark cites other examples of officers he believes have lied while testifying under oath in court trials and who have never been charged with perjury.

        In March, on the heels of Chief Tom Streicher's statements to City Council that “dishonesty will not be tolerated” in the police department, Mr. Clark wrote the chief a letter asking for an investigation into those officers' alleged actions.

        Two months later, he received a response letter from Lt. Col. Ron Twitty stating that official court records contained no allegations of perjury against the officers and that steps had been taken to ensure the mistakes they made would “not happen again.”

Uniforms are catching on, with little fight
Lemmie: Businesses must listen to boycotters
Freedom Center structure going up
Honus Wagner card vanishes
9 'probable' W. Nile cases investigated
Allen wants to open records of abuse allegations
Civilian wants to be treated like cops
Federated stands by NAACP
Germans pay visit to Blue Ash
Obituary: Elias L. Levine, engine designer
Reading help is just for kids
Schools put money issues to voters
BRONSON: Reparations rally
HOWARD: Some Good News
SMITH AMOS: Downtown melee
Drug court may be up to voters
Ex-police chief on probation
Hospital's location still not selected
Lawyers support councilman
Plan will bypass Oxford voters
Warren Co. voters face money issues
Work on I-75 ramps at Monroe speeded
Youth reproduce memorial
Bill would create Amber Alert in Ohio
Mother of sunburned children says she didn't commit a crime
Fugitive's conviction upheld
Kentucky News Briefs