May 11, 2021
The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to take any disciplinary action against Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker, but that doesn’t make his unprofessional social media posts acceptable.
Becker is known throughout Trumbull County and even Ohio for his excellent work in fighting for victims of crime in his tough and thorough prosecution of criminals. He is a very good trial attorney and, at least once, he has been named Outstanding Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Ohio by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
But even the best misstep, and unquestionably, Becker did.
A complaint filed with the Ohio Supreme Court in 2019 called into question several social media posts on Becker’s personal Twitter account that poked fun largely at county criminal defendants.
WARREN A complaint filed against a Trumbull County assistant prosecutor was dropped by the disciplinary counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio who determined the official’s actions did not rise to the level of professional misconduct.
In a letter dated March 31, , assistant disciplinary Counsel Adam P. Bessler states Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker did not violate the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, noting the state body dismissed the grievance made by a California man and closed the case.
“The First Amendment protects an attorney as it would any ordinary citizen, except for when the attorney is acting in some professional capacity in the matter in which the speech occurs,” Bessler wrote to complainant Tim R. Tolka of San Francisco.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com
WARREN A complaint filed against a Trumbull County assistant prosecutor was dropped by the disciplinary counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio, who determined the official’s actions did not rise to the level of professional misconduct.
In a letter dated March 31, assistant disciplinary Counsel Adam P. Bessler states Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker did not violate the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, noting the state body dismissed the grievance made by a California man and closed the case.
“The First Amendment protects an attorney as it would any ordinary citizen, except for when the attorney is acting in some professional capacity in the matter in which the speech occurs,” Bessler wrote to complainant Tim R. Tolka of San Francisco.
Developmental disability advocates, school representatives, health care leaders, and residents took to a public microphone Tuesday to argue for specific priorities in the New Hampshire budget, in a marathon hearing that highlighted broad concerns with the state’s funding models.
(This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin.)
During a nine-hour virtual listening session that ended around 10:30 p.m., advocates pressed the Senate Finance Committee for additional funding for mental health services, schools, child care programs, and dental care, and argued against efforts to cut those areas. Speakers also asked senators to remove a House restriction on family care funding and a ban on teaching “divisive topics.”
CONCORD â More than 220 people signed up to speak during a virtual Senate public hearing about the proposed next two-year state budget, House Bill 1 and House Bill 2, with callers urging full funding for services for people with developmental disabilities, Medicaid adult dental benefits, school funding and more.
Many also called in to ask the Senate to strip a section in House Bill related to a ban on teaching âdivisive concepts,â related to racism and sexism and calling its inclusion a dangerous form of censorship.
Gov. Chris Sununuâs third budget proposal, outlined on Feb. 11, would mean tax cuts, moving the Business Enterprise Tax from .6 down to .55 percent and the rooms and meals tax down from 9 to 8.5 percent, increasing the general fund by 7 percent but not increasing taxes.