When his brother was killed and the man's conviction was overturned, Cincinnati Policeman William Hillard asked if judges ever "think about how their decisions will affect innocent people.''

Nearly five years later, someone should ask how that decision affected one guilty person.

The killer, Jermico Clifford, was sentenced to 56 years in prison in 1998. Last year, after his conviction was reversed, he got out. On Oct. 17, he was found shot to death in a garage, the city's 50th homicide this year.

It's a story of "street justice'' that steps in when the "robes'' get snagged on technicalities.

In 1997, Clifford went looking for the guy who had creased his head with a bullet, and shot down Riccardo Hillard - the wrong man.

Police had a strong case, with witnesses. Clifford was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to 56 years to life by Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel.

But during a hearing, Nadel ejected Clifford's family from the courtroom. "One was in the back acting up and I kicked him out,'' Nadel said. "As I recall, he was making noise and threatening other people in the courtroom,'' including the victim's family, he said.

So Nadel threw out all of Clifford's family.

And that was enough for Ohio Appeals Court Judges Mark Painter and Rupert Doan to order a new trial. They said Clifford's right to a public trial had been denied.

"It was a correct decision on the law,'' Painter said this week.

Judge Lee Hildebrandt dissented in that 2-1 ruling, and still disagrees. "It wasn't even a trial, it was a hearing on a motion,'' he said. "I say if you reverse on something besides the merits, you're basically writing the guy an acquittal. A lot of the time, witnesses have a hard enough time showing up for the trial.''

That's what happened to Clifford. A second trial ended in a hung jury, two votes short of "guilty.'' By the third trial, in 2000, three years after the 1997 murder, the witnesses were gone and prosecutors had to reduce the charge to manslaughter. Clifford was sentenced to just five years for killing Hillard.

Nadel said he was constrained by ethics rules from criticizing the appeals-court decision.

Nobody had any tears to spare for Clifford. He murdered a man by mistake, almost got away with it, then was gunned down in an apparent drug-related killing. He had a long rap sheet.

William Hillard wrote a letter "thanking'' Painter and Doan for their "idiot ruling'' that finally gave his family "closure.'' He told the judges "you have the blood of another young male black on your conscience.''

Painter was surprised anyone questioned the decision.

"I've never heard of a defendant saying 'Gee, I'd rather lose my case and stay in jail because I might get killed if I get out,' " he said. "If I kept everyone in jail, nobody would get hurt. But jail is not a safe place either."

Painter said his goal was to keep courtrooms open. Hildebrandt said the court was closed only to the people who disrupted it, and Nadel "was within his discretion to clear the courtroom.''

Considering how witness intimidation allows killers to walk free, the ruling is not just silly - it's dangerous.

Clifford killed an innocent man and got off on a technicality.

This time, the guilty man was killed. Next time, it could be an innocent life.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.