Fourteen days ago (on September 19), in a courtroom in Cincinnati, Ohio, George Pazos admitted he hired a woman to engage in sex acts with him, violently attacked the woman, tied her up, then forced her to perform a sex act on a dog!!! (source)
Republican judge Patrick Dinkelacker accepted Pazos’ admission of guilt, and the plea bargain Pazos made with the county’s prosecutor (the powerful Republican former Ohio Treasurer Joseph T. Deters).
Because of the plea deal, Pazos went from facing two counts of 1st Degree Felony Rape to two counts of 4th Degree Aggravated Assault.
After accepting the plea, Judge Dinkelacker reduced Pazos bond. He sent Pazos home to rest until today on a $0 Own Recognizance (O.R.) bond, with the provision that he had to wear an Electronic Monitoring Unit (E.M.U.) on his ankle.
Today, after showing sympathy for his dogs and begging for more time to prepare for prison, Pazos was sent to prison for two years. He isn’t required to register as a Sex Offender. He has no rape conviction. (According to The Cincinnati Enquirer: “Before this case, Pazos had been charged with rape at least three times dating back to 2005.”)
Democrats at the federal, state and local level say we care about women. Our candidates promise that if elected they’ll do more than give lip service to women. Our activists say our opposition to the War On Women is real. We urge people to vote the entire Democratic Party slate, and tell them how important local judges and prosecutor are.
In Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Deters must stand for re-election in November. Most years, despite rhetoric from Democrats about wanting to gain control of local offices, long-time Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Timothy Burke lets Deters and local Republican judges run unopposed. This year, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper failed to recruit a candidate to oppose Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. In Cincinnati, Republican Beth Myers is running unopposed for the court of appeals; Jon Sieve and Susan Laker Tolbert are running unopposed for local family court (officially Domestic Relations Court). Democrats waited until the 11th hour to field a candidate to oppose Deters and came up with Alan Triggs. Triggs is a fine gentleman. He’s perhaps too gentle.
Neither Triggs, nor Pepper, nor Burke, nor the local or state parties have said a word about Pazos or the bigger issue of how women are being treated by the Republican prosecutor and judges in Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
This isn’t the first example of a white man getting off easy for raping a woman. Some of the cases have garnered national attention.
- Leslie Salzillo wrote about the case of Massachusetts high school student David Becker — who is serving probation in Ohio — and will possibly have his record or rape wiped clean because the judge didn’t want to mess up his life.
- Leslie also wrote about Brock Turner — the Stanford University student who received a light punishment after being convicted of raping an unconscious woman.
There are many more cases. If the politicians and office holders won’t do something about this, one would think that the National Organization for Women, or other national women’s organizations would lead the charge.
Back to Cincinnati. This isn’t the first time that Deters has gone easy on white men who rape. Perhaps the most egregious case happened in 1995 when Deters refused to charge then-Cincinnati Police officer Patrick Knight with rape after it was discovered that he forced several women to have sex with him while he was on duty, in uniform, and wearing a loaded gun.
Here's how the First District Court of Appeals described one of his rapes:
On October 19, 1995, Knight stopped (Lynne) Curtis as she was driving with her friend Jerome Nored in his car. When Curtis failed to produce her driver's license, Knight placed Curtis in his police vehicle, which looked like "a Bronco truck." Knight determined that Curtis was wanted on an open capias. Knight spoke to Nored, who walked away from the scene.
Knight told Curtis that he would have to take her to jail. Curtis asked Knight to write her a citation rather than to take her to jail because she was on probation. Knight asked Curtis, "What can we do to keep you from going to jail?" Curtis asked him what he meant. Then Knight said, "Well, I mean, you're on the same page I'm on." Curtis again asked Knight to give her a ticket and told him that she would go to court.
Knight drove Curtis to an isolated and dark parking lot behind a school. He went around to the passenger side of the vehicle, opened the door, and put a flashlight in Curtis's hand. Knight turned her toward him, opened her legs, and directed that Curtis shine the flashlight on herself. Knight pulled his penis out of his pants, pulled Curtis toward him, and then turned her around so that her head was still in the vehicle. Curtis heard Knight put on a condom just before he penetrated her.
Police records showed that a dispatcher asked Knight if he was going to cite Curtis or arrest her. Twenty minutes later, Knight responded that he would merely cite Curtis. Knight wrote Curtis a ticket for driving without a license and did not arrest her. Then Knight dropped Curtis off in front of another school.
Anybody else, wearing a gun, with power and authority over someone, who forced sex on someone would be charged with rape. Period. But Deters, when challenged on this, essentially launched a media campaign to explain why a cop in full uniform and carrying a loaded gun couldn't be charged with rape for forcing women to have sex with him.
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A few sidenotes.
1. As stated above, Deters is up for re-election in November. His Democratic opponent is a strong and youthful African American man named Alan Triggs. Triggs is new to politics. He could use some money and a boost from being included on some list like the Red to Blue program. *** Full disclosure. I went to school with Mr. Triggs. I do not work with him or his campaign.
2. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper used to be a member of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners. The state party picks and chooses which local races it wants to assist. Mr. Pepper, perhaps more than anyone, knows about Deters’ history. He should be helping Alan Triggs unseat this guy. He isn’t. Pepper knows full well that Deters still has powerful allies in Columbus from his days as Ohio Treasurer. Hell, Ohio State Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges was once Deters' Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager (before he fell on his sword and got convicted of crimes related to securing special treatment of Deters’ top campaign donors.)
3. Pazos’ victim wasn’t identified in any media reports. My sources believe she is currently in jail in a neighboring county. She is poor, which may explain why most people don’t care about her or this story. This generation is in desperate need of some strong feminist lawyers to help Gloria Allred while she is still on the scene and to be prepared to take over after she is off the scene. I would love it if someone made Ms. Allred aware of this story. Maybe, just maybe, she could bring enough national attention to the broken system in Cincinnati and Hamilton County to get it fixed. And, of course, maybe she could help the victim receive some compensation for her trauma.
4. Southwest Ohio readers may remember that while Judge Dinkelacker let George Pazos go home for two weeks after his conviction, he refused to allow African American female Judge Tracie Hunter go home after her conviction. Think about that. Dinkelacker treated a white serial rapist better than his African American colleague.
5. Dinkelacker Treats Women Like Objects (Exhibit A) -- In 1995, when Patrick Knight was raping women and Deters was refusing to charge him with rape, Judge Dinkelacker was busted attending a bachelor's party with strippers and prostitutes. Melissa Kelly was charged with promoting prostitution. Her case was "randomly assigned" (sure, sure) to Judge Dinkelacker. Ms. Kelly's attorney, Kenneth L. Lawson, asked the judge to recuse himself and assign the case to someone who was never at a party where Ms. Kelly and her exotic dancers performed. Dinkelacker refused to step down and he wrongfully convicted Ms. Kelly. In 1998, the court of appeals in Cincinnati tossed out the conviction and found that because Dinkelacker's conviction was based on legally insufficient evidence, it was a violation of her Constitutional right to due process. Dinkelacker's buddies at the bachelor's party had sex with Ms. Kelly's employees and he tried to screw Kelly herself in court. (The case is State v. Melissa Kelly, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 4422.)
6. Dinkelacker Treats Women Like Objects (Exhibit B) -- According to a lawsuit filed by the estate of Pamela Barnett, was driving too fast and recklessly when he hit Ms. Barnett with his car. He was driving so fast and hit Ms. Barnett so hard that, according to one media report, "[t]he crash threw the victim into the path of another vehicle." Dinkelacker killed Pam Barnett. Then, he used his powerful connections in the police department to stop law enforcement from giving him a breathalyzer or drug test. He used the media to blame the victim. And he used his cozy friendship with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and his son, who is a candidate for Ohio Supreme Court, Patrick DeWine, to get the case closed without any real investigation.
7. When Dinkelacker and Deters need someone to do their dirty work, they can always count on James Bogen! You, our faithful readers, surely remember that Deters sent Bogen to represent Judge Hunter. Judge Hunter had the good sense and discernment to stay far away from Bogen. Now Bogen was in the middle of getting Perverted Pazos a slap on the wrist for his rape and torture of his victim.
8. Notice that, at least according to the Enquirer story, Pazos showed concern for his dogs and not the victim.
