2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the editor
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Editorials
Butler County prosecuter, OPD mishandles case
We succumbed and allowed our daughter, Maureen Grady, to accept a plea of underage consumption of alcohol in proceedings before the Butler County Area I Court, Oxford, Ohio Jan. 24, 2008. This gut-wrenching decision, which we believe was unnecessary given the facts of the case and legal rights which were abused, was made to terminate the relentless and malicious zeal on the part of the Butler County Prosecutor's office and Oxford City police department. Our daughter, and four other Miami University students, was alleged somehow to be legally responsible for the tragic death of Beth Speidel on the morning of April 14, 2007.
Maureen and three of her friends had gathered with Beth the evening of April 13, 2007. During a videotaped interrogation conducted by the Oxford city police April 16, Maureen admitted to sharing a drink with Beth at an uptown bar. According to students this establishment is where the underage crowd gathers in Oxford. According to police, charges were never brought against the bar because the bar owner, like our daughter, cooperated with the police investigation. Maureen and two of her friends were not advised of their constitutional rights against self-incrimination (Miranda rights). Further, they were not told that the police
interview was being recorded. They were told by the investigating officer that none of the detainees were responsible for the fate of their friend and that the purpose of their meeting at the police station was merely to elicit help to establish a timeline of activities so that the police could answer Speidel family questions.
This video tape, procured by trickery and deceit and absent Miranda rights warnings to protect against incriminating voluntary statements against interest, subsequently became the basis for the charges leveled against Maureen and two of the other defendants.
April 20, 2007, our daughter was charged with furnishing alcoholic beverages to an underage person. Maureen was 20 years of age and Beth Speidel was 19. All of the defendants in the case were underage. The implication of the charge was and continues to be that: but for a drink that our daughter shared with the deceased, which the police learned of during the April 16 interrogation, Speidel would not have died.
We succumbed and allowed our daughter, Maureen Grady, to accept a plea of underage consumption of alcohol in proceedings before the Butler County Area I Court, Oxford, Ohio Jan. 24, 2008. This gut-wrenching decision, which we believe was unnecessary given the facts of the case and legal rights which were abused, was made to terminate the relentless and malicious zeal on the part of the Butler County Prosecutor's office and Oxford City police department. Our daughter, and four other Miami University students, was alleged somehow to be legally responsible for the tragic death of Beth Speidel on the morning of April 14, 2007.
Maureen and three of her friends had gathered with Beth the evening of April 13, 2007. During a videotaped interrogation conducted by the Oxford city police April 16, Maureen admitted to sharing a drink with Beth at an uptown bar. According to students this establishment is where the underage crowd gathers in Oxford. According to police, charges were never brought against the bar because the bar owner, like our daughter, cooperated with the police investigation. Maureen and two of her friends were not advised of their constitutional rights against self-incrimination (Miranda rights). Further, they were not told that the police
interview was being recorded. They were told by the investigating officer that none of the detainees were responsible for the fate of their friend and that the purpose of their meeting at the police station was merely to elicit help to establish a timeline of activities so that the police could answer Speidel family questions.
This video tape, procured by trickery and deceit and absent Miranda rights warnings to protect against incriminating voluntary statements against interest, subsequently became the basis for the charges leveled against Maureen and two of the other defendants.
April 20, 2007, our daughter was charged with furnishing alcoholic beverages to an underage person. Maureen was 20 years of age and Beth Speidel was 19. All of the defendants in the case were underage. The implication of the charge was and continues to be that: but for a drink that our daughter shared with the deceased, which the police learned of during the April 16 interrogation, Speidel would not have died.
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