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New Trial for Client of Attorney Friedman Featured in The Plain Dealer

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The Plain Dealer has just published an article about one of the recent case wins obtained by Ohio Criminal Defense Attorneys Ian N. Friedman and Eric C. Nemecek. The news story, which was published on July 10, 2014, was titled " Man who struck and seriously injured bicyclist after drinking in Ohio City granted new trial." It covered many of the case details we discussed in our previous blog post on this case, as well as some more recent developments related to the case.

The defense lawyers were representing a man who was accused of driving while drunk and then hitting a bicyclist with his vehicle, causing the man to become a quadriplegic as a result of his injuries. He was convicted of vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated and then sentenced to five years in prison in June 2013. However, with skillful appellate representation by Attorney Friedman and his team, the man was able to get his convictions overturned with an order that his case be retried. He was able to successfully appeal his convictions due to the fact that the previous judge allowed prosecutors to enter an anonymous letter as evidence. (The letter stated that the defendant was drunk on the night of the accident.) This was problematic because the letter should have been considered inadmissible, and its use in court ruined the defendant's chances of getting a fair trial.

The Plain Dealer article discussed these details, as well as some more recent information about the case. The article reported that Attorney Friedman has requested that the new trial be presided over by another judge, rather than the previous judge who already made it very clear what she thought of the defendant through statements she made during sentencing. In the article, Attorney Friedman explained that there will be evidence that will be used in the second trial that wasn't available for the first one. That evidence is the victim's bicycle, which had gone missing but was later found by an investigator in a police evidence room. The new trial will focus on the bicycle and the investigation, Attorney Friedman said.

Mr. Friedman was quoted in The Plain Dealer article saying that the Court of Appeals' decision backed up the defense team's contention that the state failed to provide the defense with vital evidence before trial. He noted that with all the evidence present this time around, he and his team are confident that their client will have his name successfully cleared of the charges.

Attorney Friedman and the other lawyers take an aggressive stand for defendants who need help ensuring that their Constitutional rights are upheld—including their right to a fair trial. The attorneys are prepared to take on a wide array of criminal cases. Contact our team for skillful legal representation!