ROBERT
P. RUEHLMAN,
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Ruehlman was the judge who blocked enforcement of Ohio conceal/carry firearms statute. He also was the judge who threw out the city of Cincinnati's lawsuit against gun manufacturers by saying people - not guns - cause crime. He sentenced Marvin Warner, the horse farmer and failed financier who triggered the 1985 Ohio savings and loan collapse, to 3 1/2 years in prison. In 1998, he sentenced 18-year-old Christopher Mushrush to 10 1/2 years in prison for setting off a chemical irritant inside Oak Hills High School.
Here's a few articles about him and his cases:
Judge's
rulings reflect independent outlook
By Kimball Perry, Post staff reporter
Court
revives weapon law
By
Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Judge
OKs Bengals seating deal
By
Ben L. Kaufman
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The following are his comments about trail practice in his courtroom.
Motion
Practice
First
of all, after you file a motion you must take a copy of that motion to my
Courtroom and meet with Mr. Karl Mohaupt. You should have already called
opposing counsel and you should have a date or dates in mind for setting
the motion. All motions are heard at
Settlement
I am
very active in settling both the criminal and civil cases. Plea bargaining
takes place in Chambers and so does civil settlement discussions. At
settlement conferences on civil cases, I do require that the plaintiff and
insurance companies be present.
During
civil settlement conferences, I am actively involved and do offer
opinions. I have had very good success in settling civil cases.
I do
not like continuances in either criminal or civil cases. During the case
management conference, I require the attorneys to be there to set up
discovery deadlines as well as dates for filing motions and a date for
trial. I expect the attorneys to adhere to the scheduling order.
Furthermore, there has to be a good reason for a continuance. The way to
obtain a continuance is to file a motion. I set motions down for
Courtroom Etiquette
I
tend to be pretty liberal in my treatment of lawyers. During trials there
is a relaxed atmosphere. You can approach the bench at any time, you can
use projectors, power point or blackboards. You can approach the jury box
without asking permission and I use a hands-off policy allowing the
attorneys to try their case. You don't have to feel embarrassed about
coming into my Courtroom when a trial is in progress. I tend to be pretty
low-key.
Pet
Peeves/Expectations/Comments
The
only time I get angry with attorneys during a trial is if they interrupt
me or if they fail to follow my rulings or after a ruling, they continue
to argue. As far as punctuality, I never get angry at attorneys for being
late as long as they call the Courtroom and tell my staff that they will
be late and also give a valid reason. I know attorneys are busy and I am
not the only judge. Attorneys who are late should tell us where they are
going to be and indicate a time when they are going to arrive. Don't just
show up late without any explanation.
Concerning
courtroom appearance, I never get concerned with what people wear in my
Courtroom.
Pretrial
Concerning
pretrial statements, refer to the attached copy of my pretrial order. At
the case management conference, I require all the attorneys to be present
so that we can set up the pretrial dates: dates for naming experts, dates
for completing discovery, dates for filing motions, dates when a motion
will be heard, trial dates as well as pretrial dates. I don't have a
pretrial conference in every case. Most cases are pretty simple; however,
I do have formal pretrial in more complicated cases.
In
criminal cases, I require the defense and prosecuting attorneys, as well
as the defendant, to attend the dispositional scheduling conference. At
that time I set the case for trial. If the defendant wants to plead the
case out early, that's fine. But I always work towards a trial date. If
they want to plead the case out early, the attorneys are to call Harold
Gibson, who is the constable, and he will set up a date, usually the next
day, for a plea.
IT IS ORDERED BY THE
COLIRT as follows:
1. That this cause is
assigned for trial before a jury in Courtroom 9, on -- at .m.
2. That counsel for the
respective parties furnish the Court with a trial brief 14 days prior to
the date assigned for trial of this case. Trial briefs are due on -- at --
.m. These briefs shall contain the following material:
a. A succinct statement of the kind of action;
b. A clear statement of the issues involved;
c. A summary of the
factual situation in regard to each claim or defense;
d. An itemized list of the
claimed special damages;
e. A statement of the
principles of law involved in the case supported by the citation of
appropriate authority;
f. Complete jury
instructions;
g. A list of all exhibits;
h. A list of all witnesses
and a summary of their testimony.
3. That all documents and
exhibits must be marked for identification purposes and shared with
opposing counsel 14 days prior
to trial. Failure to do so may result in said documents and exhibits not
being admitted into evidence.
4. That plaintiff must
disclose the names of all expert witnesses to defense counsel by --
5. That plaintiff must
give to defense counsel a written summary of all plaintiff's expert
opinions by
6. If plaintiff fails to
comply with orders 4 or 5, plaintiff's experts will be prevented from
testifying.
7. That defendant must
disclose the names of all expert witnesses to plaintiff's counsel by
8. That defendant must
give to plaintiff's counsel a written summary of all defendant's expert
opinions by --
9. If defendant fails to
comply with orders 7 or 8, defendant's experts will be prevented from
testifying.
10. ALL DISCOVERY will be
completed by
11. ALL PRETRIAL MOTIONS
must be filed by -- 12. ALL PRETRIAL MOTIONS will be heard on
Concerning
cases that I send to visiting judges. I try not to use visiting judges. I
attempt to try all my cases and the only time I will send a case to a
visiting judge is if I am in progress on a case and I know the case has to
be tried and the attorneys want to go to a visiting judge. If I can't try
a case, I will try to continue it and then give it first priority so that
it can be tried a few weeks later.
I
believe that the arbitration and mediation process should be voluntarily.
I never force a party in alternate dispute resolution. I believe that the
best cases for arbitration are those where liability isn't in dispute and
causation is the only issue.
Concerning
the time allocated to voir dire; I never get involved conducting voir dire
because I know attorneys have certain styles and I never cut off anybody's
voir dire. Moreover, attorneys can take as much time as they want on voir
dire. I have no time limits on voir dire and I hardly ever get involved in
voir dire except in situations where a juror indicates that he or she
cannot be fair or impartial. At that time, I will ask some questions
concerning the challenge for cause in order to make a decision on the
challenge.
Concerning
opening statements, I encourage lawyers to use demonstrative evidence
including but not limited to charts, power point, slides and photographs.
As
far as note taking by jurors is concerned, I don't allow jurors to take
notes because most cases are not that complicated. I want the jurors to
listen to the trial and I believe that when they are taking notes, they
miss things.
Finally,
I encourage attorneys to talk to jurors after the case is completed.
Disco
I
set all the time limits up at the case management conference and I expect
the time limits to be followed.
Personal
I am
an avid swimmer and dive master. I like to hike. Read a lot of books. I
have seven (7) children and a granddaughter.