HAMILTON, Ohio (WXIX) – The Ohio Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it has denied the state’s request to hear its appeal of the overturned felony conviction of former Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds.
This means Reynolds is eligible to hold public office again and he is looking forward to returning to work, according to his attorney Chad Ziepfrel.
Voters elected Reynolds to his fifth term in November 2022, a month before his trial ended in conviction, forcing him to resign under state law.
“We are pleased with today’s decision by the Ohio Supreme Court to deny the state’s motion to appeal the 12th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision,” his attorney, Chad Ziepfel, said in a statement to FOX19 NOW.
“Mr. Reynolds is innocent and his full acquittal is the right, fair and just outcome. Mr. Reynolds and his family would like to thank the countless friends and supporters who have stood by him. He looks forward to returning to work on behalf of the citizens of Butler County as their duly elected auditor.”
However, current Butler County Auditor Nancy Nix advises not to rush into the process.
She was sworn into office in February 2023 after being appointed to the position by the Butler County Republican Party Central Committee.
Prior to her appointment, Nix served as county treasurer for nearly 16 years.
“I refer you to (Butler) County Attorney Mike Gmoser,” Nix said in response to our request for comment. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no auditor position for Roger Reynolds to return to.”
“I have served honorably as County Auditor for over 18 months. Reynolds has resigned. Elected offices are not filled while individuals await trials and court proceedings. The business of government must continue and vacancies must be filled.
“Also,” she asked, “are there any unresolved ethics violations in the state? I’m not sure. Perhaps the Ohio Ethics Commission can answer that. It’s unfortunate that Roger has to subject the district and the auditor general to more of this drama.”
Gmoser has not yet responded to our request for comment.
Reynolds, 54, of Liberty Township, was forced to resign from his position as Butler County auditor in late December 2022, shortly before the start of his fifth term, when a jury found him guilty of charges of unlawful participation in a public contract.
State law prohibits a public official from holding office if he or she has been convicted of a crime, particularly in connection with his or her elected office.
It also prohibits elected officials from approving or influencing a public contract in which the official, a family member, or a business partner has an interest.
The jury acquitted Reynolds of three other charges, including bribery and a misdemeanor. Shortly before his trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court began, prosecutors also dropped another charge.
Visiting Judge Daniel T. Hogan sentenced him to 30 days in jail and five years of supervised probation.
The judge ordered a stay of his prison sentence pending the outcome of his appeal, meaning he did not have to serve a single day of his sentence.
Reynolds was also ordered to pay the maximum fine of $5,000, the cost of his supervision, all court and tax costs, and to engage in full-time employment or perform 100 hours of community service.
Before the judge announced his sentence on March 31, 2023, Reynolds spoke in court for the first time in detail about his case.
“I made mistakes and at no point did I try to dismiss them or put the blame on anyone else,” Reynolds said.
According to court documents, Reynolds tried to persuade Lakota Local Schools to build a golf academy on the site of a private country club golf course in the Four Bridges neighborhood where his family lives in Liberty Township, using public funds that Reynolds routinely paid to the tax authorities in his role as auditor.
Reynolds’ lawyers argued that the auditor was merely brainstorming how to use the excess money and that it never happened.
According to emails from the school, the school district’s lawyers advised the treasurer against it.
The state argued that Reynolds’ efforts were criminal, pointing out that Reynolds’ daughter was a member of the Lakota East High School golf team at the time.
The appeals court found earlier this year that although the state had conducted discussions between Reynolds and then-Lakota Local Schools Treasurer Jenni Logan about the indoor golf facility at Four Bridges, it did not provide enough evidence to convict.
The Court of Appeals found that the trial court had erred in denying Reynolds’s motion for acquittal under Rule 29 of Criminal Procedure and remanded the case back to the lower court with instructions to grant the motion for acquittal and release Reynolds.
“The state’s claim that Reynolds attempted to use his influence as county auditor to obtain a public contract proposal that would have benefited him – the charges and the evidence supporting them simply cannot be interpreted otherwise,” the appeals court’s opinion said.
“But even if the jury believed that Reynolds was improperly attempting to enter into a contract, his attempt failed – in fact, it was thwarted by the only witness against him, (former Lakota Schools Treasurer Jenni) Logan.”
Reynolds vehemently maintained his innocence from day one, pleading not guilty and not testifying in his own defense during his week-long trial in 2022.
Ziepfel has repeatedly described the allegations as false and politically motivated.
Reynolds’ appeals attorney, Aaron Herzig, wrote in court filings with the Supreme Court that “the Court of Appeals’ decision is well founded and this Court need not appeal it.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio Solicitor General T. Elliot Gaiser recently asked the state’s highest court to intervene after an appeals court overturned Reynolds’ conviction.
Upholding the appeals court’s ruling — that public officials can only be convicted for corruption that actually occurred, not for planning it and/or pressuring others to participate in it — weakens the state’s ability to prosecute such cases, Yost and Gaiser wrote in their petition for review by the Ohio Supreme Court.
This case also represents “a matter of public or great general interest” because the lower court’s decision punishes those who courageously raise their voices to expose corruption, the ruling states.
“If the (appellate court’s) decision stands, it will weaken an important tool in the state’s anti-corruption toolkit. Laws against public corruption protect the public’s trust in its government as well as the integrity of governance itself. These laws intentionally cast a wide net over any abuse of public office or authority to force or influence an unlawful outcome.”
Ohio’s anti-corruption laws cover a wide range of behavior, the court filing said.
“They criminalize efforts by public officials to abuse their office to obtain private gain because it is the corrupt efforts, not just the corrupt results, that undermine public confidence in their elected officials. In other words, it does not matter whether the official was ultimately successful in achieving his or her corrupt goals.
“This Court should accept review of this issue of great public importance and correct (the Court of Appeals’) harmful interpretation of Ohio’s self-dealing law.”
Reynolds, who served as Butler County’s top financial officer for 15 years before resigning, was also accused in a September 2021 lawsuit of interfering in the development contracts of his longtime neighbor and business owner Gerald Parks, 91, who lives on Hamilton Mason Road.
Because Reynolds was named in both his professional and personal capacity in the original 22-count complaint, the county was required to assume his legal defense in his professional capacity.
In February, a visiting judge ruled that the county had no obligation to defend or pay as Reynolds continued to fight the lawsuit.
However, Butler County attorneys argued in court filings late last year that Reynolds acted outside of his official duties as county auditor and “Butler County alleges that Mr. Reynolds’ actions were not in good faith, which relieves Butler County of any duty to defend or indemnify Mr. Reynolds.”
County records show that taxpayers paid about $100,000 for his defense in the civil case. That was the deductible the county had to pay before the county’s insurance began to cover Reynolds’ legal costs.
Parks’ attorney has since filed an amended complaint with only six charges.
Then, last year, Reynolds won a major victory in the case when the judge dismissed almost all of the claims.
The hearing on the two remaining claims was scheduled for October 30, but was abruptly postponed and, according to court documents, has not been rescheduled at last check.
Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it here with a short description.
All rights reserved.
