PIB ex-chief Lampela cleared on 2 counts, trial resumes

PORT CLINTON — A judge ruled former Put-in-Bay police chief Robert "Ric" Lampela not guilty on two of three remaining misdemeanor charges, dereliction of duty and falsification, in a criminal trial Wednesday.

Visiting Judge James Hoover, retired from Crawford County, said there are many plausible theories about what could have happened regarding an alleged sexual assault incident in 2003 and whether it was ever reported to Lampela.

“It’s not easy to sit in these cases," Hoover said in announcing that the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt was not met on the two specific counts.

Prosecuting attorney Michael Cody said in the state’s closing arguments that in order to believe Lampela’s version of events, one would have to believe there were several conspiracies between the alleged victims — both former female Put-in-Bay police officers — and others.

“I don’t have to believe there’s four conspiracies,” Hoover said after the ruling. “I can just take the testimony of the two plaintiffs or victims of the allegation concerning the alleged sexual conduct. Did that occur or not?"

The former female officers testified they informed Lampela of the incident, and he said they did not.

Hoover said that in a criminal case, the scales weighing the evidence cannot be equal. The proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Is it reasonable to believe that officers would go and have somebody at least examine them physically,” he said. “That’s reasonable to believe that. On the other hand, is it reasonable to believe that they were afraid? That’s reasonable to believe that.”

Last month Lampela, 53, waived his rights to a jury trial and was granted a bench trial, making Hoover the legal fact finder in the case to decide the former police chief's guilt or innocence.

Prior to a dismissal of one count on Tuesday and the two not guilty verdicts on Wednesday, Lampela was facing four misdemeanor charges: dereliction of duty, aggravated menacing and two counts of falsification. The one charge still pending is aggravated menacing. Hoover will announce his ruling when the trial resumes at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Ottawa County Municipal Court.

The other falsification count was dropped Tuesday, the opening day of the trial, after Detective Joel Barton of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office testified that he believed Lampela was referring to a firearm magazine and a chambered round, not the gun itself, during questioning last year over a 2010 incident.

The former police chief said in the interview that he had set the magazine and bullet on a table when he took his handgun out of the holster, emptied it and held it near the head of a former a Put-in-Bay police sergeant when quizzing him about the Second Amendment.

The criminal complaint alleged that Lampela was referring to the gun itself being set on the table, which is not what happened.

Defense attorney Angelo Lonardo had moved to dismiss the aggravated menacing and other falsification count after the state rested its case, but Hoover overruled both motions.

1 of 4 charges in trial of ex-chief Lampela dismissed

@JonDBN will be providing live courtroom updates on our #pcnow Twitter feed.

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