Appeals of the New Justice Court of Appeals in the case of kidnapping of Cleveland children

Cleveland, Ohio- a Court of Appeals last week awarded a new trial for a Bedford man sentenced by kidnaping two childrenfinding his defense lawyer did not oppose the use of prosecutors of Deceptive evidence.

The Court of Appeals of the 8th District of Ohio found that Julian Early’s defense lawyer did not demonstrate in the trial that a protection order that prevented him from being close to his ex -wife had expired weeks before being accused of kidnapping his children.

According to the impact that the protection order had on the trial, the judges of the Kathleen Keough Appeals Court, Eileen A. Gallagher and Lisa Forbes ordered a new trial.

“The false and misleading protection order permeated all the trial where this Court can say with certainty that the error and poor performance of the lawyer undermined confidence in the result and affected the equity and integrity of the trial,” wrote the Court of Appeals in his opinion.

The former were declared guilty in their initial judgment and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer communicated to comment to Early’s appeal lawyer, John Corrigan, and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

Early’s ex -wife, on August 13, 2023, called 911 and said that the former broke into her house in West 68th Street, her car was stolen and took her 2 -year -old daughter, according to the testimony of the trial last year in the Common Pleas Pleas Court of Cuyohoga.

Three days later, Early left in an Audi with the 1 -year -old boy of his girlfriend inside as he collected his belongings from a Holiday Inn Express in Euclid Avenue, according to the testimony. Later that day, his ex -wife called 911 and told the dispatators that he entered his house, took his daughter and left in an Audi.

According to Wkyc news partnersBoth children were safely recovered by the authorities. Early was arrested on October 2.

In both calls to 911, Early’s ex -wife said there was a restriction order against him, according to the testimony. She said that early she took her daughter on August 16 because she had discovered that she informed the previous incident.

At the trial, Early’s ex -wife admitted that she lived with her and tried to retract her accusations on August 13. She said she made the story because she discovered that she had a new girlfriend, the same woman in the incident of August 16, and wanted to destroy her life.

The prosecutors attending Michael Stechschulte and Karen Greene introduced evidence of a temporary protection order against the beginning of the trial. Early signed the order in December 2022 after being convicted of threatening in the municipal court of Cleveland.

Prosecutors mistakenly affirmed that the order, which prohibits having early contact with their ex -wife and children, was still in force in August 2023, the judges of appeals found. He had expired in June.

The defense lawyer of the former, Stephen Albanze, did not oppose the evidence. Albanze did not respond immediately to a comment request on Monday.

The appeals judges wrote that prosecutors had introduced the testimony of multiple witnesses on the protection order.

Prosecutors focused even more on the protection order during closing arguments, according to the Court of Appeals.

“The protection order must be convicted,” said a prosecutor during the final arguments, according to a transcription included in the opinion of appeals. “He took his children because he, the defendant, considered (his ex -wife) as a mother not suitable. … This is not how this works. There is a protection order. You can’t be close to these children at this time. “