Académique Documents
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without cost. If you are unable to pay the cost associated with an Appeal these costs may be
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provided to you without cost. All right. Now, with that being said the Court is going to move
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hear about Police Officers that are being shot at and killed and spit at and things thrown at
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them and names being called. This happens every day, we hear it every day and every day
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that these same very Police Officers that we are spitting at and calling names at and throwing
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things at and shooting at and killing, are the very same Police Officers that we're calling to
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say, please help us. Help me because somebody ran into my car, help me because somebody
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broke into my house, help me because my son is about to kill himself. The very Police
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Officers that we have mother fucked and called pigs and spit at and thrown things at are the
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same individuals that we call and what is so remarkable about this is, they come, they come,
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they come to the same people that call them names and tell them how much they hate them,
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we hate you, we despise you, but yet come when we call and these officers come. On a
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personal note my child said to me one day, mom, I want to be a police officer and my first
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response is, please don't and I had to take a step back because it's not that I don't appreciate
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the profession, but I don't want my child to be spit at and things thrown at and shot at and
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killed, I don't want that for my child so I have to beg my son, don't be a Police Officer. No
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matter what we do, no matter what we say to these men and women, when we call them, they
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come. I have to say, I have to say this, you people are far better than I could ever be. When
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is it going to stop? You know when are we going to stop doing this? When are we going to
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stop saying, we hate you, we hate you, we hate you but help us. When are we going to
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appreciate what these men and women do? They don't make the law. If you don't like the
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law, go to the people that make it. You don't like the speeding rules, go to the people that
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make the rules. They' re just the bearer of bad news, they have to follow the rules and what's
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so troubling about this case is as we sat and watched, they weren't doing anything wrong.
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They were called to help. That' s all they were doing. It's just so sad. When is this going to
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stop. I don't know when it's going to stop. I have no control over when it's going to stop but
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I'll tell you what, I have a little bit of control, I could maybe stop it for a little bit of time,
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MR. TRASK.A: Your Honor Mr. Odolecki has a few words he ' d like to say to
the Court.
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MR. ODOLECKI: Your Honor I'd just like to say that these days the conversation
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of police brutality and abuse is on the forefront of everyone's mind. It's not something that
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is not happening just because we're you know trying to mask it and I just, I just feel that I
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don't want to have to be shot to prove that point okay by a Police Officer. You may call the
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police, I would never call the police, never. I can take care of my own things, I don't need
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them. I don't want their service, I don't want to have to pay for it, but I'm forced to . There
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is a problem here in the Parma Police Department. There's a problem in Police Departments
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across the Country and that's the fact that the thin blue line protects them, they protect each
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other from things that are, that each other do and they try to make sure that they don't
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get in trouble for those things and alls I'm trying to do by filming them is make sure that
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if that happens that they can' t just come in here and say, you know, I'm a decorated officer,
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I've done all this service and everything like that so you have to excuse the fact that I just
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assaulted someone on video, you know, I want to make sure that they, that there is at least
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interrupt. But what about you sir? What about you? You come close to assaulting, you're
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almost like a bully, you're almost like a bully, you know they can't respond, you know, you
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know they can't -- you know I wonder what would happen if it were just you and average
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Joe out on the street and you' re doing this to average Joe, I wonder what that response would
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be and I have to interrupt you again to say, we watched this video, those individuals, those
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Police Officers were doing nothing wrong, nothing wrong and but for the grace of God, but
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for the grace of God, that young man didn' t jump. How would you have felt, and you don't
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have to answer, how would you have felt, if he jumped? And as an aside, if I were just the
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regular average Joe, and ifl were the mother and that particular scenario, sir, I guarantee
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you, you would have to call the police to get me off of you. So I hear what you're saying and
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you do have certain Constitutional Rights that we all have, but sir, that's a power that we
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have our voice is a power but with great power comes great responsibility.
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scene of this and didn' t say a word. It wasn't until I was taunted by them, well I'm not even
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is filming. If they hadn't have done what they had done, that video would have come out and
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I would have created a story that said, hero cop saves kid from suicide. But that' s not what
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happened. Instead I was lied to, assaulted, had to try to have my camera blocked, which to
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me is a violation of my rights. So, I mean, I'm sorry for whatever the pain caused or whatever
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but I just can't, I can't just stand idly by while this is happening, because as Mr. Spellacy
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said to the jury many times, this is your community, well guess what, it's my community too
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and I'm sorry if you feel a certain way about that, but it is my community as well.
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MR. GOLD : I'd like the Court in considering its Sentence to consider that you
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know I think that these the factual circumstances presented here really it raise some issues
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of first impression. These -- this was a -- the scene, first, you know we start with the
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checkpoint, the law is not super clear on that, there' s no other case out there that went so
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far as to affirm any kind of conviction for the kind of conduct that we're talking about here.
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This was a rather novel issue and I think that you could probably take many different
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lawyers and many different Judges, much less many different jurors and arrive at different
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opinions and conclusions about what may or may not, what was or was not protected speech
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in that situation and there would be genuine disagreements based on what we understand
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the law to be. The situation with the, the, the Snow Road bridge incident, it raises, I mean
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it's, on one hand, you know, I mean there's general kind of idea of you know do we have
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a right to film, well generally, I think that it's Mr. Odolecki' s genuine belief at least that
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he does and maybe you know this is one of those cases where you've got this exception
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based on these circumstances that if it's an emergency by nature of it's very definition, it
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was unexpected. It was a different kind of situation, there was information that you know
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not known to Mr. Odolecki that may or may not have changed things but it was, one thing
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was clear is that he didn't have all the information and that doesn't necessarily maybe mean
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that the police didn't have a right to tell him to leave but from, you know, just when you're
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operating under this general understanding that, you know, we can film, and the lines not
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real clear maybe because it' s such a fact specific determination of what is or isn't an
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emergency and we saw I think even in some of the testimony that you know when the
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question is asked when does that emergency end, that was the answer we were given well
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you have to look at the facts and you know maybe when the scene is cleared but I think we
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can all agree that just because we see police with lights, that's not necessarily an
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emergency and in fact the Parma Police you know have been filmed by Mr. Odolecki before
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and there ' s never been any kind of suggestion that, that, you know, that those were
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emergencies that you know his filming was somehow acting in misconduct. So, I mean, you
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know it' s a lot of information I think to process at one time and when you're I think as
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driven as someone like Mr. Odolecki, feel as strongly as he does about what we' ll call police
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accountability, maybe you don't, you don't, it's tough to appreciate just what you're doing
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is not helping and you know, and with respect to the -- and I' ll lump that in with the
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obstructing official business at the bridge because I think that you know my, what I'm
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suggesting to the Court would ring true for that as well. And finally with respect to the
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disorderly conduct you know I think that, I don't think that Mr., you know, I don't want
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to speak for Mr. Odolecki but I don't think that we would agree that it's okay in all
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circumstances to throw "F" bombs around particularly in the presence of children but
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again you know it kind of brings me back to my, one of my questions in voir dire, you know
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if you had one of your children at a Steelers, Browns game and you saw that language you
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know would you expect that you know they would haul that person away. You know
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anyone who has been to a game has seen that that just doesn't happen you know and you
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know this situation is different also then maybe like a protest, counter protest situation. This
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was a little bit different but so I it's not to say that in all situations that kind oflanguage should
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be tolerated around children but I think that you know what is clear is that there was some
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kind of physical altercation that it appeared at least between Officer, Sergeant Gillissie and
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the Defendant. At a minimum you know there was contact with Sergeant Gillissie and the
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camera and not to say that it excuses the language that was used after the fact but I think
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you know our basic common experience can tell us that when something like that happens,
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you can lose your cool and so you know all I'm suggesting to the Court is that consider that
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Mr. Odolecki is human and that you know, you know he could be just as prone as any of
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us to losing our cool. So you know in conclusion I would like the Court to you know
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consider that you know due to some of the unique circumstances of these cases, as well as
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some of the, the context, which might not, at least in this situation, have been determinative
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as to guilt or innocence, I would at least like the Court to consider all of that as it delivers
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count one, obstructing official business on 6/13/14, 90 days in jail, $200.00 fine, Court costs
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are imposed. On count two, misconduct at an emergency on 7/29/15, 180 days in jail, $200.00
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fine, Court costs are imposed. On count three, obstructing official business on 7/29/15, 90
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days in jail, $200.00 fine . On count four, disorderly conduct of7/29/15, 30 days in jail,
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$100.00 fine. The Court has imposed a 390 day Sentence, your jail time will run consecutive,
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MR. GOLD: I believe that count two the misconduct at the scene of an
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emergency was a fourth degree misdemeanor as I look at the Parma Municipal Ordinance.
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harm went to the felony charge, if there were to be a felony, and there wasn't a felony filed
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on this.
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correct itself. Misconduct at an emergency, Parma Codified Ordinance 648 .07 is a fourth
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degree misdemeanor. Sentence shall be 30 days in jail, $200. 00 fine, Court costs are
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imposed. Count three, obstructing, 90 days in jail, $200.00 fine, count four, disorderly
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conduct, 30 days in jail. Count one, obstructing, 90 days injail. Jail time will run
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MR. GOLD: Your Honor -THE COURT: Mr. Gold anything further?
MR. GOLD : May I make a Motion to Continue Bond Pending Appeal?
THE COURT: Your Motion is denied. Mr.
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