COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office is demanding that the attorney general dismiss the voter fraud indictment of a man who has been dead for two years.
State Attorney General Dave Yost announced six indictments during a press conference on Tuesday. Each is a green card holder who allegedly voted in previous elections.
Of the six people indicted, one was A 68-year-old man from North Royalton who allegedly voted in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Two more were from Northeast Ohio, and the three remaining are from the Columbus area.
Watch Yost's announcement here:
RELATED: 6 green card holders indicted in Ohio for voter fraud
This investigation stems from the summer when Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose complained to Yost that local county prosecutors have not taken up his team’s possible election fraud referrals.
With these new indictments, I asked Yost about local involvement and if the county prosecutors had been aware of the allegations.
"Yeah, all of these cases had been previously declined for prosecution," Yost answered me.
I spoke with Cuyahoga County spokesperson Lexi Bauer on Tuesday, and she adamantly denied that the county had been referred the case of the now-indicted 68-year-old voter by either the offices of the AG or Secretary of State.
Yost stood firm.
"You will be held accountable in the state of Ohio," he said.
Even if you’re dead?
As it turns out, that voter died two years ago. He died in 2022, yet Yost charged him, blaming Cuyahoga County for not catching it.
After trying to figure out what happened, Prosecutor Michael O'Malley revealed Wednesday afternoon that the man died.
"This is one of the greatest examples of prosecutorial overreach I have ever witnessed," O'Malley said in a press release. "The practice of indicting the deceased is draconian."
O'Malley says he is "philosophically opposed to indicting deceased individuals who clearly have no way of defending themselves."
"This is not how we would have handled this case in my office," O'Malley said. "I am calling on Ohio Attorney General David Yost to immediately dismiss this indictment."
We reached out to the attorney general's office, which sent us a prompt response:
"Of course the case will be dismissed," said attorney general spokesperson Bethany McCorkle.
How did this happen?
Case Western Reserve University nonpartisan elections law professor Atiba Ellis was bewildered by the indictment revelation.
"Bringing an indictment against the person who cannot answer would seem to me to be useless and ultimately, more about spotlighting rhetoric around the issue as opposed to actually seeing that justice be done under Ohio's laws," Ellis said.
To indict six individuals, including a deceased person who voted a decade ago, makes him question the timing and the scrutiny of Yost and LaRose.
"This seems more targeted at trying to demonstrate proof where proof has been scant," Ellis added. "By indicting a dead person, it would at least raise the presumption that the Attorney General's office or the Secretary of State's office has not done the due diligence needed in order to bring proper indictments."
Now, Ohio has potentially "slandered" an innocent man who has no way of having his day in court, he added.
"For this very obvious fact to be missed suggests that the due care needed by the prosecutor in bringing prosecutions hasn't been taken — it raises the specter in my mind that this prosecution is more about scoring political points rather than using the prudence and care necessary given the tremendous powers that the prosecutor has in the criminal justice system," he continued.
To do this two weeks before an election, in only Democratic-run prosecutor's offices, without speaking to said prosecutors, speaks for itself, the professor said.
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