Powers charged with disorderly conduct in 2004
On Friday, August 15, 2008, The Buffalo News reported that on October 23, 2004, Jonathan P. Powers was charged with disorderly conduct in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Mr. Powers did not respond in the article, but his campaign spokesperson made a series of inaccurate and flatly false statements in response to the revelations that Mr. Powers had directed profanity at a police officer and was charged with a class four misdemeanor.
Excerpts from the story follow in italics, with factual responses in bold.
But Powers spokeswoman Victoria Dillon saw the incident differently. She said Powers was with college friends and fellow veterans in the area, and denied at the time and denies now that he ever used obscene language in addressing the officer. She also offered to produce witnesses to back up Powers.
Read the citation – the police officer, under penalty of perjury, recorded that Powers did use profanity, specifically directed at the officer:
Readers can view a scan of the citation here.
“To wit: what are you f---ing looking at motherf---ing cop”
By denying facts entered into evidence, Mr. Powers is accusing the police officer of lying and of committing perjury.
“Jon was written a ticket for jaywalking, never arrested and never showed any disrespect to law enforcement.”
Mr. Powers was NOT charged with jaywalking – a pedestrian violation under section 4511.12 of the Ohio Traffic Law, Mr. Powers WAS charged under section 2917.11 of the Ohio Criminal Code.
CHAPTER 4511: TRAFFIC LAWS -- OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES Section 4511.12 Obedience to traffic control devices. No pedestrian, driver of a vehicle, or operator of a streetcar or trackless trolley shall disobey the instructions of any traffic control device placed in accordance with this chapter, unless at the time otherwise directed by a police officer.
CHAPTER 2917: OFFENSES AGAINST THE PUBLIC PEACE Section 2917.11 A(2) Disorderly Conduct. No person shall recklessly cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another by doing any of the following: Making unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display or communicating unwarranted and grossly abusive language to any person
Further, the citation is explicit and specifically enumerates the charge against Mr. Powers – the officer cited a specific violation, and recorded the specifics of that violation:
“Disorderly Conduct - No person shall recklessly cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to another by doing any of the following: Making unreasonable noise or an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display or comm[unicating] unwarranted and grossly abusive language “To wit: what are you f---ing looking at motherf---ing cop”
Nowhere in the citation is there any mention of jaywalking - a claim specifically rejected in the article by the Cleveland Heights Municipal Court.
But a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Heights Municipal Court said Powers changed his plea of not guilty to the original Class 4 misdemeanor charge to “no contest” in connection with a minor misdemeanor on Jan. 11, 2005, and that there was no mention of jaywalking in the final disposition of the case.
Dillon disagrees.
“When you look at the full statute, jaywalking is part of that statute,” she said.
The Powers campaign is incorrect, and court records and the actual citation indicate the statement by the spokeswoman for the Court was correct. As indicated above, “jaywalking” is covered under the traffic laws of the State of Ohio. Mr. Powers was charged under the Ohio Criminal Code, and with Disorderly Conduct based on the sworn statement of the police officer he verbally abused.
A review of the Ohio criminal code defines a number of offenses that would constitute disorderly conduct — but not jaywalking.
Dillon, however, countered that it would refer to a section outlining “hindering or preventing the movement of persons on a public street.”
CHAPTER 2917: OFFENSES AGAINST THE PUBLIC PEACE Section 2917.11 A(4) Disorderly Conduct. Hindering or preventing the movement of persons on a public street, road, highway, or right-of-way, or to, from, within, or upon public or private property, so as to interfere with the rights of others, and by any act that serves no lawful and reasonable purpose of the offender.
Again, incorrect. The section of the Ohio Criminal Code cited by the Powers campaign as “jaywalking” refers to people who block or barricade traffic, either as part of a protest, blocking access to a health clinic, or some other form of picket or obstruction.
Mr. Powers was not conducting a sit-in at 12:03 a.m. on October 23, 2004. He was specifically charged under another section of the Ohio Criminal Code, for using profane and abusive language to a police officer. He now compounds that misdemeanor, and his failure to disclose that incident, by willfully misleading the press.
This is the real Jon Powers - He flagrantly disrespects a police officer, is found guilty of disorderly conduct and never tells anyone. After 10 years of scandal and embarrassing headlines, we don’t need more of the same — we deserve a congressman who will tell the truth.