“The problem is, is that Mr. Brewington does not follow instructions that need to be followed. That is our big issue here.”
-Dearborn Co Deputy Prosecutor Brian Johnson on why high bond is necessary for Brewington
“So I think it's clear um, that he intends to try this case on his blog and I think that not only could be detrimental to the State. It might even be detrimental to him.”
–Dearborn Co Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor during Dan Brewington’s arraignment 3/11/11
“…we would ask the Court to make a condition of bond that Mr. Brewington not continue to blog about the substance, uh, at least his version of the substance of the case that is here before this Court.”
- Deputy Kisor 3/11/11
“[Brewington posted] ‘if I am detained in Dearborn County jail because I do not receive a hearing or if Negangard gets a ridiculously high bond placed on me, Facebook users can get updates from my family and friends from my Facebook group, 'help Dan Brewington see his girls.' I will have someone posting information on this case that Negangard tries to lock me up or in the case that Negangard tries to lock me up and throw away the keys. All are welcome to join. Thanks for the support.’ So we're asking that that order be made no direct or indirect postings regarding this case.”
-Deputy Kisor 3/11/11 on Dan’s post made prior to arraignment hearing
“[Dan’s blog post] says ‘yesterday I swore under oath that I would not talk about what went on in the grand jury hearings. The Prosecutor, Negangard, seemed concerned that I would tell people what happened. Well I am going to tell people whether Negangard likes it or not.’ I'm going to ask; I'm going to show this to Mr. Brewington but I'm not going to offer it at this time.”
-Deputy Kisor 3/11/11 did not admit the post into evidence. Probably because what Brewington claimed to be grand jury testimony was actually dialogue between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in the courtroom scene from A Few Good Men. (Link to what people claim to be one of Dan’s most entertaining blog posts.)
“’I can't say what happened in the grand jury but if Negangard takes the matter to trial, I will be sure to get the grand jury information on the public court’. This is the court where this case needs to be tried; not the public court, your honor.”
-Deputy Kisor 3/11/11 re: Dan’s comment on grand jury arguing Dan’s case should not be tried in the public court.
“So the State is asking to, your honor, admit State's Exhibits 1 through 5 in consideration of setting the bond and the conditions and again the State's request is for a high bond and with the prohibition that he not be permitted to use the internet.” “Or discuss this case in any other form.”
-Deputy Kisor 3/11/11
Robert G. Kelly was on hand for Dan’s arraignment and Judge Blankenship allowed Mr. Kelly to speak on Dan’s behalf. Mr. Kelly stated the following:
"My name is Robert Kelley. I'm the attorney for Mr. Brewington and I'm licensed to practice in Ohio. I anticipate filing the necessary paperwork with Indiana to get appointed to appear on his behalf pro bono to assist whoever the court appointed counsel is if that can be arranged and we couldn't get it done by today because we couldn't get the public defender appointed. Mr. Brewington's thirty-seven (37) years of age. He's divorced at the present time. He's unemployed. He's lived in Norwood, Ohio or Milan, Indiana his entire life. He has no criminal record whatsoever in any court system. The only criminal record he has is now in this court. He's um, he has no missed court dates of any kind, whether for his divorce, whether as a result of the notice from Prosecutor, Negangard. He voluntarily appeared, voluntarily waited his turn for approximately six (6) hours to appear for that uh grand jury proceeding. He voluntarily surrendered here today, this morning, as a result of a bond being posted in the State of Ohio for his release on the extradition warrant and upon the representation to those court authorities that Mr. Brewington would surrender himself. He was released by Hamilton County and that was also discussed with Prosecutor, Negangard, that he would be surrendered by 6:00 this morning. He was surrendered by 6:00, so it would be impossible for him to make that post at 8 unless they're giving him access at the jail. So I said no prior criminal history. There's no threats of violence on any of these charges that have been filed which I think would be one of the big issues as far as intimidation. Uh, there's no in person contact between Mr. Brewington and Judge Humphrey or Judge Humphrey's wife at any time other than in a courtroom where Mr. Brewington represented himself. That's been the only in person contact with Judge Humphrey at any time. The only in person contact with Dr. Connor was either a result of his visit with Dr. Connor for an evaluation or if Dr. Connor was subpoenaed for a criminal action that was filed by his ex-wife in Ohio. We tried to subpoena Dr. Connor and Dr. Connor refused to appear in the Hamilton County Municipal Court. Those charges were thrown out by the Judge in Ohio and he has had no contact, in person contact with Dr. Connor whatsoever. He's uh, participated in all judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. He has filed complaints against Dr. Connor because he does have a valid claim against Dr. Connor that he's pursuing at the present time which we anticipate will be filed Monday in Federal Court concerning this matter and these charges here today. Um, he's represented himself throughout the litigation, done research on his case and reported that. Um, and some of these charges that are alleged in the indictment, even reviewing them, you can't identify what, the actual facts, the dates, the times, any of these things occurred but I can guarantee you that Mr. Brewington's welcomed this date and will appear at every hearing. He presents no harm to anyone. I've known his family for over forty (40) years. I was a prosecutor in the city of Norwood. I'm a prosecutor in the village of Addyston at the present time and quite frankly your honor, I think that after Mr. Brewington has his day in Court, it's going to be quickly discerned that there's no substance to these charges and if everybody's going to be indicted who blogs on a post, they might as well start indicting everybody. If that woman in the back corner writes the wrong thing on her paper and the Prosecutor gets upset about it, she could be indicted. I mean it's his first amendment right to get on there and type as long as he's not threatening physical harm to someone and Dr. Connor has no relationship to any case that's pending at the present time; none whatsoever. Neither does Doctor, Judge Humphrey. Judge Humphrey doesn't have any involvement with any case involving Mr. Brewington at the present time except for maybe the appeal of his divorce case to the Supreme Court, the U. S. Supreme Court. And that's all we would say but he presents no risk to anybody other than the fact that when he has a computer, he likes to sit down and type and I, and if you take, I'll tell you what, if you take this document, the State's Exhibit where it states that he's gonna state what happened at the grand jury and if you can pull it up on your computer, you'll see that he didn't say anything about what occurred in the grand jury whatsoever. It was absolutely a play on words and a reference to a Jack Nicholson and um, Tom Cruise movie and he just switched the roles from Jack Nicholson to Negangard, uh Jack Nicholson was Mr. Brewington but I mean the, the whole process here, he's got an absolute first amendment right to get on the computer if he wants to blog, he can blog.”
Mr. Kelly went on to say:
“I just have, I just have one additional thing to say. In the fact that Mr. Brewington may have disdain for the Prosecutor I think is actually his right. He could even have disdain for the Court and that would be his right. Now as an officer of the Court, if I had disdain for the Court or showed some lack of respect or didn't urge somebody to be compliant with the Court's order, that would absolutely be a problem but he's got a right not to sit there if somebody says well don't write anything bad about the Prosecutor. He's got a right to put down whatever he wants. If it's actionable slander or liable, they can, they can sue him but quite frankly they haven't. What they've done is they've indicted him because they're in control of that.”
…And Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard claims Dan Brewington is the problem:
“This is a case of a person intentionally trying to undermine our justice system.”
-10/3/11 Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard's opening statements in trial of Dan Brewington
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