By James Nash
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Raynell Robinson smashed a cell phone to prevent a witness to a violent brawl from calling police, but his actions did not violate the Ohio law against “disrupting public services,” the Marysville man’s attorney told the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday.
Robinson, 37, was convicted in 2007 of intimidating a witness and disrupting public services for destroying the cell phone belonging to his nephew Antonio Robinson when the younger man attempted to call police during a late-night confrontation between the two.
Prosecutors dropped felony charges of assault for lack of evidence. Still, Robinson was sentenced to two years in prison for witness intimidation and 15 months for disrupting public services by wrecking the phone.
His attorney, Stephen P. Hardwick, told the justices yesterday that prosecutors were stretching the definition of disrupting public services past its breaking point by applying it to a single cell phone. The 3rd District Court of Appeals reversed Robinson’s conviction for disrupting public services.
“The legislation was seeking to protect from the disruption of general public services,” Hardwick said.
The Union County prosecutor’s office, joined by Attorney General Richard Cordray’s office, said the law needs to protect people who are trying to summon help.
“I don’t believe that I exaggerate when I say that the ability to make a 911 call is a lifeline between the victim and law enforcement,” said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa A. Chase.
This is the first case in which Ohio’s highest court has been asked to weigh in on whether the law applies to destroying a single cell phone as opposed to larger disruptions such as spikes to flatten the tires of emergency vehicles.
Hardwick emphasized that Antonio Robinson had managed to make one 911 call before his uncle destroyed the cell phone, and as a result, police and paramedics were on their way.
“This whole idea that police were just roaming around this giant apartment complex is simply not true,” the lawyer said. “It was about the size of a football field.”
Chase responded that even if police were delayed only a few minutes, Raynell Robinson clearly had intended to thwart them altogether.
Justices are expected to rule within several months.
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