CLEVELAND — The Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that former Cuyahoga County Jail Director Ken Mills will get a new trial after he appealed his conviction of four misdemeanor charges that landed him behind bars for nearly a year.
According to court records, Mills appealed the jury's decision and the evidence introduced during his trial regarding inmate deaths.
The Court of Appeals, in reversing Mills's convictions said in its opinion, "After a thorough review of the record and the law, we reverse and remand for a new trial, finding that the trial court erred when it allowed into evidence a photograph of a dying inmate and testimony about inmate deaths at the Cuyahoga County Jail."
Attorneys for the 57-year old called the decision by the appeals court "a huge win" for Mills.
"Bottom line, today the court recognized that there was an unfair trial and you can't just splash evidence of things that a person had nothing to do with all over the court records and expect to affirm the conviction," said attorney Louis Grube who represented Mills during the appeal.
Mills' original trial ended in September 2021 when he was found guilty of two counts of falsification and two counts of dereliction of duty. He was found not guilty of a felony count of tampering with records.
Mills was sentenced and served nine months in jail.
Defense attorney Kevin Spellacy who represented Mills at trial said now that Mills convictions have been reversed, his client is hoping to clear his name.
"It was all about his reputation, his character and it had been tarnished through this process and today he gets some vindication," said Spellacy.
Investigators said Mills lied to county council about his role in blocking the hiring of nurses inside the jail leading up to the string of eight inmate deaths in the last six months of 2018.
Mills eventually resigned in November 2018, days before the release of the US Marshals' report that called conditions inside the jail "inhumane."
The Ohio Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted Mills' case, issued the following statement regarding a new trial: "We are reviewing the court’s decision and determining the next steps."
You can watch more about the sentence Mills received in the player below:
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