The commissioner should not have been arrested because he had spoken out, the judge ruled

Heated disagreements were not uncommon at Board of Commissioners meetings in Trumbull County, Ohio, after Niki Frenchko took office in January 2021, becoming the only Republican on the three-member board. But tensions erupted in July 2022 and ended in Ms Frenchko's arrest after she continued to express her views at a public meeting.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the arrest violated the constitutional rights of Ms. Frenchko, who had criticized the sheriff and ignored another commissioner's order to apologize before she was arrested.

“Here in America, we do not arrest our political opponents,” Judge J. Philip Calabrese of the Northern District of Ohio wrote in Tuesday's ruling.

Trumbull County, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, has a population of about 200,000. The commissioners are the administrative body of the provincial government.

The two other commissioners, Mauro Cantalamessa and Frank Fuda, were Democrats and Ms. Frenchko, as the only Republican, saw it as her job to “need” them, the ruling said. Mr. Fuda retired from the end of 2022.

“For their part, they viewed her as ignorant of the basic workings of provincial government and as a nuisance, to say the least,” the ruling said. “As her colleagues became increasingly frustrated and impatient with her, their personal and political disagreements became increasingly intense.”

Ms. Frenchko broadcast her arrest, which occurred after a dispute during a July 2022 commission meeting, in a livestream video. She was charged with disrupting a lawful assembly, but the charges were dropped several weeks later.

In April 2023, Ms. Frenchko filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the two other commissioners, the board of commissioners, the county, the sheriff's office and two sheriff's office sergeants, saying her First Amendment rights were violated and that the sheriff's office had no reason to arrest her.

Judge Calabrese agreed with his ruling Tuesday, but stopped short of striking down the Ohio law that made her arrest possible. The statute prohibits obstructive behavior or speech that “violates the sensitivities of the group.”

The judge said that the two other commissioners; Sheriff Paul Monroe; and the two sheriff's deputies, Sergeant Harold Wix and Sergeant Robert Ross, were personally liable for damages, to be determined at a later hearing.

“This statement affirms what I have done in the past and gives me the strength to continue fearlessly doing the people's business in the months and years ahead,” Ms. Frenchko said in a statement.

Andrew Yosowitz, an attorney for the two sergeants, said in an email that they planned to appeal.

“When Ms. Frenchko repeatedly interrupted and disrupted the commissioners meeting, said Sgts. Wix and Ross acted reasonably to enforce Ohio law, which protects the First Amendment by prohibiting a person – any person – from disrupting a lawful assembly,” Mr. Yosowitz said.

Attorneys representing the county, the sheriff's office, the board of commissioners, Sheriff Monroe, Mr. Fuda and Mr. Cantalamessa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Judge Calabrese said in his ruling that Ms. Frenchko was removed from the meeting “without question” because she “conveyed a message that did not resonate with those in power.”

The dispute stemmed from a meeting in early June 2022, when Ms. Frenchko read a letter from the mother of a man jailed in Trumbull County. said the letter writer that her son had not received adequate medical care after contracting meningitis.

Sheriff Monroe wrote a letter demanded in July that Ms. Frenchko apologize for the statements she made and criticized her for publicly reading the letter because the claims had not been verified.

Since 2010, at least seven lawsuits have been filed alleging that the rights of inmates at the Trumbull County Jail were violated. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports this.

Mr. Fuda instructed a clerk to read the sheriff's letter during a commission meeting on July 7, 2022. Ms. Frenchko interrupted the clerk and objected, the ruling said. Mr. Fuda ordered her to stop interrupting, use his gavel and raise his voice, but Ms. Frenchko continued to object and mocked the clerk, who began to cry, the ruling said.

After the clerk finished reading, Ms. Frenchko discussed the letter for about two minutes, the ruling said. Mr. Cantalamessa interrupted her and said, “You're talking about the chief law enforcement officer in Trumbull County; it is unacceptable.”

The argument continued and Mr. Fuda told Ms. Frenchko to apologize to the sheriff. “If you don't, we'll move on,” he said, according to the ruling.

Mrs. Frenchko continued to speak.

The sergeants ordered her out of the interrogation room and she was handcuffed outside while she recorded the interaction on her cell phone. According to the ruling, Ms. Frenchko was then taken to the county jail, located in the same building, and released later that day.