“What the Parole Board is now doing to me is nothing less than an act of torture.”
On June 19, 2014, Ohio Assistant State Public Defender Kenneth R. Spiert mailed the below letter to the Ohio Parole Board, in which he requested (for the second time) that they correct their incorrect record of the amount of Jail Time Credit that they have me recorded for having earned towards the total amount of time that I’ve been imprisoned. Based on the cited miscalculation, Mr. Spiert also requested that the Parole Board Modify the date of my upcoming Parole Board hering, so that it could be held sooner than the currently scheduled date of December 2014, which is actually October 2014, because all hearings are conducted two months early.
The Parole Board, however, has so blatantly ignored my right to be afforded a “meaningful” Parole Board hearing, as established by Ohio’s Supreme Court, that it’s impossible for them to now correct their wrongdoing, and here’s why:
As it appears, according to the DOTS records printed on the below letter, I should be credited with 235 days of Jail Time Credit. Well, if the Parole Board were to credit me with the 235 days of Jail Time Credit that I’m owed, counting back from December of this year (the current date that I’m scheduled to appear before the Parole Board), that would give me a new Parole Board hearing date of April 2014. It’s currently August 2014, which means that the Jail Time Credit has officially been disregarded, and that the Parole Board has illegally re-sentenced me by way of operating as a de facto branch of government. If this is not proof that the parole Board is out-of-control, then what is?
As I’ve never denied, I committed crimes that I deserve to be punished for. But after having served over 20 years for my convictions of aggravated robbery and felonious assault, I’ve served my time. What the Parole Board is now doing to me is nothing less than an act of torture. They have deliberately walked off the path of justice and equality, and right now, I need your support to help me help them get back on course.
With so much attention recently being focused on the State of Ohio, due to the news of the 2016 Republican National Convention coming to the state, as well as superstar LeBron James announcing his redeeming decision to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the timing couldn’t be any better to shine a public spotlight on to the dark unjust practices of the Parole Board.
My suggestion: Go to my YouCaring page and support my effort to lease a commercial billboard in the state’s capital city of Columbus, so that collectively, we can display a brief message demanding that the Parole Board end its long-existing practice of excessively punishing the state’s marginalized class of old-law prisoners.
Here’s the letter from Kenneth R. Spiert: