ATHENS — An Athens City Council member is facing a first-degree misdemeanor assault charge after Athens police arrested him earlier this month over an alleged incident at the Ohio University Inn, according to reporting by the Athens County Independent based on a police report it obtained through a public records request, corroborated by the Athens Messenger’s reporting on the court complaint.
The Athens Police Department arrested John Staser, a Democrat who represents the city’s 2nd Ward, on Saturday, Oct. 3 at approximately 6:30 p.m., according to the police report obtained by the Athens County Independent. Staser has pleaded not guilty, and the investigation is ongoing, the Independent reported.
The police complaint alleges that Staser approached a man and “pushed him, verbally confronted him and struck him multiple times,” the Independent reported from the complaint. An incident report said the man was from West Virginia, according to the Independent. The Athens Messenger reported the charge is filed under Section 2903.13(A) of the Ohio Revised Code in Athens County Municipal Court.
City Law Director Lisa Eliason told the Athens County Independent on Monday, Oct. 26 that Staser’s status as an Athens City Council member is currently unaffected by his arrest. Staser was absent from City Council’s meeting Monday night, though Council President Micah McCarey told the Independent that Staser had previously planned to miss the meeting for a conference, and that he had not seen violent or aggressive behavior by Staser before.
The case has already seen two unusual steps in court. Eliason requested a special prosecutor, and the court appointed attorney Micah Tippie, the Independent reported. “I think it would have an appearance of impropriety or conflict if we [the city] had prosecuted the case,” Eliason told the Independent in a phone interview. Athens Municipal Court Judge Todd L. Grace has also recused himself from the case due to an unspecified conflict of interest and was replaced by Judge Dean Wilson, who retired from Perry County Municipal Court, according to the Independent.
Staser is represented by attorney Susan L. Gwinn, who requested a jury trial, according to the Independent. Her office did not respond to an Oct. 26 request for comment from the Independent in time for its publication, and Staser did not respond to an Oct. 27 email request for comment from the Independent, the paper reported.
Staser is also a professor at Ohio University’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology — a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, according to the Athens Messenger. Dan Pittman, senior director of communications at Ohio University, told the Independent by email that the university “does not comment on personnel matters.”
Staser entered his not guilty plea on Thursday, Oct. 8, according to both the Independent and the Messenger. No injuries to the man were detailed in the reports either outlet published, and neither outlet reported that Staser has been suspended from council duties or from his university position.
Elsewhere in Southeast Ohio, the region’s courts and communities have been busy this week — from a Columbus man sentenced to 13 years for trafficking drugs into Muskingum County to Zanesville chefs preparing to compete Nov. 4 to back local food entrepreneurs. The Staser case, by contrast, is about an elected official’s own conduct, and it will be decided in the open, in a courtroom a short walk from the council chamber where he still sits.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed from the police and court records both outlets reviewed: the Oct. 3 arrest, the first-degree misdemeanor assault charge, the not guilty plea, the special prosecutor and the change of judge. What is still open: what led to the encounter at the Ohio University Inn, whether any additional evidence or charges emerge from the ongoing investigation, and whether council or the university take any action before the case is resolved.
What happens next is the pre-trial hearing set for Tuesday, Nov. 10 in Athens County Municipal Court, according to the Independent and the Messenger. That hearing is the next concrete step, and NewsForce247 will follow the case as it moves through the court Staser’s own city would ordinarily prosecute in — which is exactly why an outside prosecutor and an outside judge are now handling it.
Photo: Kayura Mendonza, CC BY-SA