Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly, who was arraigned on a 25-count indictment Monday, has continued to deny state officials documents in his possession that were formally requested, according to previously sealed court documents recently made public.
A special grand jury issued Kelly three subpoenas in October. Just last month, the state filed a motion to compel, which was granted three days later, requiring Kelly to produce records responsive to each grand jury demand by Jan. 30.
A memorandum filed by Special Prosecutor James C. Roberts, of the state, said Kelly had not “provided a single justification for his non-compliance, nor does any justification exist.”
According to the memorandum, the subpoenas, issued Oct. 31, demanded Kelly provide records pertaining to concealed-carry weapon applications and licenses, hours worked by Sheriff’s Office personnel at the Athens County
Sheriff’s Academy and the acquisition, disposition and inventory of firearms obtained through “the normal course of business” of Kelly’s office.
The compliance deadline for all three requests was Nov. 8 and according to documents, Kelly did not meet any of them; therefore, the state felt it was necessary to intervene.
Kelly did not return The Post’s request for comment by press time.
Roberts motioned Jan. 21 that Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove, the judge who oversaw the special grand jury trial and is overseeing the court trial, address the issue. Because Kelly didn’t comply, Cosgrove will conduct a hearing for contempt for the sheriff’s office, according to court documents.
That hearing and Kelly’s pretrial will both take place in the Athens County Common Pleas Court Feb. 28.
Originally, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn was representing Kelly, but to avoid conflict of interest, Blackburn requested to not represent Kelly.
However, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who was temporarily representing Kelly in the case, attempted to file a motion to deny the state’s request for an oral hearing.
Kelly has until his pretrial to find a permanent lawyer, Cosgrove said at the arraignment hearing.
McGinty argued in a filed response, dated Feb. 7, to Cosgrove that Kelly’s office was not given a reasonable amount of time to respond to the state’s motion to compel before the motion was granted.
“The sheriff’s office has made efforts (to) respond to the subpoenas issued in this matter, despite the fact that they are unreasonable and oppressive,” he wrote.
Although most of this back-and-forth dispute played out behind closed doors, Kelly tried to avoid the court orders in September, and those documents were public and reported on in news reports last fall.
Kelly asked Judge George P. McCarthy to quash, but was told that the request would have to come as a formal motion. Kelly then wrote a letter to Blackburn dated Sept. 10 that he wished to file a motion to quash, or void, the subpoena.
Instead, Blackburn requested Roberts, the state special prosecutor, narrow the scope of the subpoena because it was “overly broad and had the potential to harm future investigations,” and therefore, a motion to quash was not filed prior to the state’s Nov. 8 deadline.
The memorandum in support stated “no grounds exist for Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly to have the State of Ohio’s subpoenas quashed. … The State of Ohio’s subpoenas (are) not unreasonable or oppressive.”
Kelly was disappointed with Blackburn’s actions.
“I believe you, as the prosecutor of Athens County, have lost sight of your responsibilities,” Kelly wrote in a letter dated Sept. 16, listing reasons why he believes there was a legal basis to quash the subpoena.
McGinty said in recently unsealed court documents that the subpoenas seek excessive amounts of documents and require Kelly’s office to “create records that do not exist.”
Roberts said that claim is “wholly inaccurate.”
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This article originally ran in print under the headline "Sheriff produces subpoenaed documents"
Correction: The original headline for this article, both in print and online, was incorrect. The headline has been changed from its original form.
