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Saturday, July 05, 2008
Courts - Still more on: Hamilton Ohio Naked Prosecutor
Updating this ILB entry from Oct. 18, 2006, the Cincinnati Enquirer has a story July 3rd by Janice Morse that reported:
HAMILTON -- A former city prosecutor who was fired for taking nude after-hours strolls in a public building has won a court victory in his battle to get his job back.Scott Blauvelt, 36, is entitled to civil-service job protection, Visiting Judge Thomas Nurre ruled in a decision filed June 25 in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
The decision, if it stands, means Blauvelt would be entitled to have a civil service panel consider whether to rehire him.City Law Director Hillary Stevenson says she disagrees with Nurre’s analysis of Blauvelt’s job situation and will seek a reversal from the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown.
The saga has been going on since late 2006. Stevenson fired Blauvelt after security cameras videotaped his naked nighttime walks through the Government Services Center downtown. Blauvelt was then working in that building.
Blauvelt’s lawyer, Mike Gmoser, says Blauvelt has overcome the mental problems that fueled his odd behavior, and he’s back to work as a criminal defense lawyer in Hamilton.
But Gmoser said Blauvelt loved working as a prosecutor and “he’s just a good, solid guy who wants his job back.”
Gmoser says Blauvelt’s aberrant behavior could be partly blamed on side effects of a medication used to treat depression and seizures.
Blauvelt was taking that medicine before he was found nude in a near-fatal Indiana car wreck in 2005, Gmoser previously said. Blauvelt suffered a severe brain injury in that wreck, which also influenced his behavior, Gmoser said.
“These issues are in the past for Scott,” Gmoser said Thursday. “The city didn’t take the time to fully analyze what was causing this behavior. They just looked at the bizarreness of the behavior and said, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to fire this guy.’”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 5, 2008 12:33 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts