Dereliction of duty charges dismissed against Lorain County corrections officer

ELYRIA — Three misdemeanor charges against a former Lorain County Jail corrections officer who allegedly violated security protocols while dealing with a disruptive inmate last year were dismissed Thursday in Elyria Municipal Court. A special prosecutor said the dereliction of duty charges weren't appropriate for what Christopher B. Jackson was accused of doing in an on-duty altercation with an inmate in December 2024, court records stated. Jackson will get his job back and return to work today, an official at the Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Jackson, 60, was fired by Sheriff Jack Hall in April, then charged in July with three counts of dereliction of duty, all second-degree misdemeanors, in municipal court over the incident on Dec. 29. Special prosecutor John Reulbach, formerly the Avon Lake city prosecutor, asked Judge Gary Bennett to dismiss the charges during a brief court hearing Thursday. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled at a later date. Jackson and his attorney, George Gerken, left the Broad Street courthouse before a reporter could speak with them. A message seeking comment was left for Gerken. An arbitrator's ruling recently reduced Jackson's punishment to a 30-day suspension. Attorney Anthony Nici, director of legal affairs at the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, said Jackson will be back at work today with the same rank and status he had in April. The Chronicle-Telegram made a public records request for a copy of the arbitrator's decision. Reulbach said following Thursday's hearing that Jackson was charged under the wrong section of Ohio law. He asked Bennett to dismiss the charges, writing in a Sept. 29 motion to the court that Jackson was charged under a law that reads "No officer, having charge of a detention facility ..." shall do what a specific subsection of the dereliction of duty law prohibits. That's Ohio Revised Code Section 2921.44, subsection C.But Jackson was not in "charge" of the jail, nor was he an "officer" under the definition given for that subsection, Reulbach wrote. And no other subsections of the dereliction of duty law applied to the facts of Jackson's case, he wrote. A supervisor also found Jackson's use of force against the inmate justified, according to court records, and violations of policies, procedures, work rules or common sense would not necessarily be a crime, according to Reulbach's motion to dismiss the charges. Jackson was hired by then-Sheriff Phil Stammitti in 2008. Hall fired him in April after reviewing the incident, in which an inmate threw feces at Jackson. Court records said the inmate was in a cell by himself when he tossed a cup of feces onto Jackson, who was delivering a bagged lunch. Sheriff's Office policy is to wait for backup in that situation, but Jackson radioed other corrections officers to open the cell "and engaged in a physical confrontation with the inmate," according to the Sheriff's Office and court records. Jackson admitted punching the inmate several times before backup arrived, according to court records. Most of the incident was caught on video except for several seconds of activity inside the cell that happened out of camera view. Jackson's failure to follow protocol and his alleged "reckless judgment" caused a serious security issue, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release announcing Jackson's firing. In a supplemental dismissal motion filed Oct. 16, Reulbach appeared to question whether Jackson broke the law at all. "Although Jackson could have waited for assistance after notifying the control room, he was not obligated to do so," Reulbach wrote. "His actions, as litigated in the arbitration hearing arguably do not appear to violate any existing work rule, policy or training standard, let alone a statute" in Ohio law. The Sheriff's Office declined to identify the inmate involved in the incident, withholding his name "for privacy reasons." He also was not identified in court records. Throwing feces, urine, saliva, semen, blood or other bodily substances at corrections officers is harassment by inmate, a felony under Ohio law.The same inmate allegedly threw feces on two other corrections officers two days after the confrontation with Jackson, union director David Edwards previously told the Chronicle. It wasn't clear if criminal charges were filed against the inmate over any of those incidents. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.