Ohio: Ohio Supreme Court

The Ohio Supreme Court threw out a case brought last week by Jessica Derov of Warren, who
disputed the validity of a breath test that found her to be driving under the influence. Derov's
case could have had implications for the state's new breath-testing device, the Intoxilyzer 8000,
which has drawn challenges even before it's used in the state.

The Supreme Court decided against even considering that question.

In its decision to throw out Derov's case, the court said there wasn't enough information for it
to weigh the validity of the test used on Derov -- much less the Intoxilyzer, which is a different
instrument.

The Intoxilyzer 8000 was supposed to debut in a pilot program in Clermont County early this
year, but it's still not in use, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public
Safety.

-- James Nash

jnash@dispatch.com

The reality version of The Appeal concerns Don Blankenship, chief executive officer of A.T. Massey Coal Co., who almost single-handedly changed the composition of the West Virginia Supreme Court by supporting Brent Benjamin against incumbent Chief Justice Warner McGraw. Blankenship started his quest after a jury rendered a $50 million verdict against Massey Coal in favor of Hugh Caperton and his company, Harmon Mining.

Blankenship contributed $2.5 million to a political action committee that viewed McGraw as too soft on crime and too dangerous for kids, and spent $500,000 on advertising. Altogether, Blankenship spent three times what Benjamin's own committee spent. A year before the Massey case came before the court, Benjamin was seated as its new chief justice.

WASHINGTON -- Like at least four other members of the U.S. Supreme Court this morning, Justice John Paul Stevens seemed to be searching for how to define when a slew of campaign spending or other benefits results in an appearance of bias and requires a judge to step aside to ensure a fair trial.

The case argued before the Supreme Court involves a high-stakes election so riveting that novelist John Grisham used its underpinnings to shape the best selling book, The Appeal.

The case involves some $3 million spent by a West Virginia coal company executive to help elect a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who after taking the bench was the crucial vote in overturning a $50 million-plus verdict against the company.

In 2006, a group of conservatives, including an RNC member/lawyer from PA, attempted to save the Blackwell for Governor campaign from itself and the outrage of Ohio voters disgusted with Republican rule in Ohio by challenging the legitimacy of Governor Ted Strickland, and thus, ultimately his eligibility to be sworn into office.

At the time, I said that purely as a matter of law the elections statute's standard for what can constitute as a "residency" was so flexible, that it's a stretch to say there was any legal basis for the complaint.

ProgressOhio has been pushing the State Senator Jon Husted story hard.  I've only said that people like Bizzyblog who were so quick with the felony allegations when it was Strickland are showing their partisan nonsense with their utter silence on Husted.