WEBVTT

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Now your chance to win a thousand
dollars entered this nationwide keyward on our website.

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Unhappy, that's happy answer it now
Bill cunning in the Great America.

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And of course is a great debate
going on in our community about the level

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of law enforcement required in certain areas
of our county and throughout the entire county.

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And there's a different way of looking
at things. When I have on

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Melissa Power's good friend Rob Sanders from
Kenton County, they have a different outlook.

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When I have on the prosecutor of
Campbell County, they have a very

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harsh outlook. When I talked to
Butler County and Warren County, very strong

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law enforcement. And we have a
debate going on because I watched an interview

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at Channel five a couple of nights
back with the relatively new juvenile court judge

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Kerry Bloom was in charge of Hamilt
County Juvenile Court, and she made the

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statement that to lock up a juvenile
for two or three nights is devastating to

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that kid, that somehow that'll change
the course of their life if they have

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to spend one or two or three
days. At twenty twenty Auburn, which

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is j juvenile jail and she doesn't
want to send anybody to a night in

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jail and joining you and I now
is Melissa Powers how many County prosecutor?

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And first of all, I'm not
sure if you saw that specific interview,

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but you know what, you know
what to deal with. When you were

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in juvenile court as a judge,
Kerrie Bloom was more or less under your

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tutelage as the junior judge. Now
he's in charge. Are you concerned that

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when you have women who's beaten up
on metro buses and the four girls are

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out before the paperwork is completed,
are kids downtown committing rather vicious assaults that

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aren't locked up? Are you concerned
about Hambleton County losing its way and being

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even more reckless than it is now? Well? Absolutely, First, I

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do want to make a correction.
She was not under my tutelege. She

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was completely in dependent of me.
We had completely different philosophies, we produced

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different results on our cases. However, I recognized that she was a colleague

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and she was independent of me.
I didn't agree with her decisions. I

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didn't agree with her philosophy. She
is a soft on crime advocate, as

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you can tell just by her interview, and if you take her her statement

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about you can't lock a child up
because of the trauma involved in the lockup

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with them, Basically she's saying,
and she does believe this, is that

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she wants to get rid of the
detention facility. We wouldn't even have No

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one would be held under any circumstances
when you go to jail, when you

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go to twenty twenty or detention facility, that's a deterrent. People don't want

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to go there. They don't want
to go, They don't want to be

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there. They don't want especially the
juveniles, they don't want to be separated

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from their families. We get that, their friends, we understand that,

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but that's the deterrent. When you
eliminate that, there's no reason why not

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to go be somebody up at the
on a metro bus, or go steal

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from a store when you know nothing's
going to happen to you. She's basically

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saying, crime does pay, and
there's nothing to stop somebody from committing crimes.

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Uh, you want, you need
to have consequences, You need to

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make it uncomfortable. There needs to
be responsibility and accountability. If you're going

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to commit a crime, and when
you said the message that we're not.

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We're dismissing all assault charges, we're
dismissing all resisting arrest charges and putting them

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on an unofficial dock, at which
the conclusion is a dismissal. So we're

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not going to entire categories of crime. You're not serving the community you're trying

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to help, and you're not helping
the children that you think you're helping.

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You're putting them right back into the
same neighborhoods that are high risk, extremely

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vulnerable neighborhoods, making everybody that in
that in those neighborhoods less safe in my

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opinion, Go ahead, Melissa,
you said something very important right there that

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an entire category of criminal offenses have
been decriminalized by Judge Bloom, which is,

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what of the lists that if juvenile
also charged with assault, resisting arrest,

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a bunch of other crimes which can
be felon these or misdemeanors, she

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puts them on the unofficial docket.
There's no record of it, and no

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one goes to jail for categories of
crime, right, You're correct, So,

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yeah, an entire So basically she
is dismantling the Criminal Justice Code.

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The criminal code, there won't be
one, and that's that's the goal.

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I think that is the end goal. She doesn't like it. She thinks

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it's sim racist, systemically racist,
and so she doesn't want it to exist,

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and she's going to recalculate it and
reformulate it the way she thinks it

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should be, which is basically,
nobody goes to jail. There shouldn't be

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jails, nobody should be held pending
trial, and then of course used,

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as I said earlier, categories of
crime, they're not being prosecuted in her

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court. So when I read all
over the media Melissa Powers that the crime

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rate is down, the crime rate
is down, Well, the crime rate

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is down because we decriminalize crime.
That is, you have hundreds of individuals

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who should be charged with crimes in
Hamlin County that aren't charged. And so

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if the crime rate is down,
that's all I have. The crime rate

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is down. It's down because juvenile
court judges like Kerry Bloom does not believe

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that anyone should be locked up,
and she dismisses when you put on the

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unofficial docket, that means it's dismissed. So of course the crime rate is

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down because we don't charge people with
crime. And you one other thing before

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we talk about Rwayne Reading and Russell
Bell, You and my wife Penny spent

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a lot of time in Room May
as young prosecutors calling cases. Can you

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recall how busy Room May was,
which is the place in Hamliny County,

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all over the county, from the
city to Green Township Anderson Township that criminals

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would be brought and a bond would
be said. Have you recently been in

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roommate to watch what happens? I
have not recently been in. I've seen

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photos, you know, and some
footage, and I'm shocked because, as

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you said years ago, the courtroom
would be packed, absolutely packed to the

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you know, to the bills keep
taken and attorneys you know, standing all

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over the place, officers everywhere,
and it's just empty. It's it's pretty

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it's it's shocking. And I think
they're even using it for storage some of

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us. I saw something. Yeah, it is. It's really hard to

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believe that that's the way, that's
where we are. I mean, as

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far as the Justice Center, there
was always problems with overcrowding. We don't

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have that problem. Now, floors
are shut down. In twenty twenty,

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floors are shut down. So,
I mean there's a lot of different things

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happening, but it is not the
same as it used to be. But

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getting back to when you're just missing
cases or their citizens that don't come forward

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because they know that justice system is
broken when we don't have judges enforcing the

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law, enforcing making the appropriate punishment
for the severity of the crime. So

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witnesses don't come forward because they're not
going to be safe. And it can

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be anything from a simple case to
murder cases to rape cases. Why come

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forward? So that's why crime can
be down as well. Victims are not

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coming forward, they won't testify.
We how many times do you hear somebody

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with a shot, But they're not
telling the cops who did it? Right?

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Well, Christ, they know nothing's
going to happen. There's nothing going

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to happen. About a year ago, I had a friend of a friend

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that had a PBC, a passing
bad check, and I go down to

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get a bond set. That's the
last case I had. About a year

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and a half ago. I walk
into ten to nine and there's like five

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people there and I walk up to
David Wood, who's the county prosecutor,

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sitting there inside the glass. I
said, David, am I in the

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wrong room. Well what is this? He said, what do you mean?

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I said, where is everybody?
He said, this is what we

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got. People are not being arrested. Cops are told in Cincinnati don't pull

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somebody over because you might discover something
and get into a frakus. And I'm

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glad you brought that up about what's
happening in Saint Francis Serif. I had

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a Paula Christian of Channel nine the
other day in Shiri Pololo, and they

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talked about police cars next to Saint
Francis Serif, where drugs are being administered

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interveniously, that the open sex pools
of urine and poop, drug deals,

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burglaries, and they shut down Republic
Street to move it over a block.

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And I asked many in the city
why don't the city cops arrest these individuals?

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And it comes down to the city
manager, Cheryl Long and the mayor.

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They don't want they want to be
able to say that, you know,

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crime is down, even though there's
hundreds of crime And politically, I

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mean, how does that Melissa you've
been in law enforcement for more than thirty

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years, are you a little bit
disgusted by this? It's it is very

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upsetting because and I don't think and
I'm glad that you're bringing a light on

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it, because I don't think that
people understand, like the businesses downtown understand.

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They think, well, our cops
are great, Yes, our cops

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are great. That when they're being
told not to make arrest, just just

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be show a presence. And on
the banksy after all the violence we've had

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that one summer, and no arrest
were being made down there. So it

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placates the business people and maybe the
community. But if you really know what's

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behind the scenes, they're not making
arrest. And then I've had I've talked

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to people up in Price Hill and
they said, you know that they've been

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they've been hit, had a hit
and run on their car with their car,

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and they won't and they know exactly
who did it, and it was

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an illegal. No, we don't
arrest illegals. We don't. We don't

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charge, we don't, we don't
arrest juveniles. We you know, I

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mean, these are things that these
are being statements being made by the citizens,

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And I think We need people to
be speaking out very loud and questioning

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what is going on, because why
are the why is the city Cincinnati being

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handcuffed? Why is our police department
being handcuffed? And and what what is

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it? You know basically? So, I mean, it really just keeps

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goes deeper and deeper. It's not
just the judges. It could be you

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know, we've got there's a philosophy
that it's defund the police. They won't

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say it, they won't tell you
that, but that's what that's basically demoralize

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the police department, This catch and
release programs that they want to enforce.

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We see it over and over again. And it really isn't about politics in

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my opinion, it's philosophy and it's
about safety. So do you want public

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safety? Do you want our community
to thrive? Do you want businesses to

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you know, to come and make
investments in downtown Cincinnati? And there's been

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so much investment, so much good
has been done down there, and to

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see what's happening, it just breaks
your heart because I grew up here.

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I love our city. I want
it to be a great place. I

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want to be, you know,
feel comfortable. You know, our family

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members, you know, to go
down or anybody. Everybody should be able

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to enjoy what Cincinnati has to offer. Now. Lastly, Wayne Reid and

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Russell Bell are now in their sixties
and they were convicted without question of murdering

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police officer Charles Berdzel, and I
think in a week or two there's going

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to be a parole hearing for either
one or both of them. Explain how

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the American people can get involved.
We the parole hearing date is May thirtieth,

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and it's very important. The parole
board does listen to the public and

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the public can put pressure and it
does make a difference. So I want

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to encourage everyone out there to send
a message. You go to our website,

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Hamilton County Prosecutor dot org, so
it's HDPRS hcpros dot org. Go

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to the parole watchtab and it's a
form that they can fill out as that

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you object to the parole being granted
to these two cop killers. It was

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a vicious, tragic, horrible situation. Our victim is he was a US

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Army veteran. He served two tours
in Vietnam. He was given a purple

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heart and after he was honorably dischargey
it became a Cincinnati police officer, and

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on this date, back in July
of nineteen seventy eight, he came back.

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He approached and responded to stop the
vehicle. And inside the vehicle was

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Wayne Reid and Russell Bell and they
were staking out and casing a convenience store.

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And an off duty officer saw them
and called it in the District five,

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and it was Berzol that came.
He was on duty and approached the

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vehicle and asked the occupants to exit, And when Reid exited the car,

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he fired his handgun at Burzil.
It struck him in the face. He

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fell to the ground. Then as
he was laying face down in the street,

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he was still alive, probably would
have survived his injuries. Reid stood

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over and executed him and shot him
two additional times then that killed him.

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Because of they were on they should
have been on death row, but at

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the time Ohio had ruled the death
penalty unconstitutional. It was a very brief

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moment in time. So that's what's
so offensive about this case. Anybody else,

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in any other situation, these guys
would have been on death row,

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and they have already been executed by
now. But because of this glitch in

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the law at the time and this
ruling that only stood for a brief moment

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of time, these guys are now
they just have a life sentence. Life

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in prison without parole was not an
option. So they are eligible for parole,

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which no cop killer should be eligible
for parole ever. But you know

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that wouldn't be a concern of ours. We would think the parole board would

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keep them in but not nowadays that's
not the case, and we just can't

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trust the parole boards to do the
right thing any longer. And we really

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really need the people in the community
to help us hold them accountable by sending

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messages to the parole board. We've
done this before. We did it on

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that David Carol case was effective.
We were able to keep public pressure kept

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him in prison. He's David Carroll, if you remember, killed Mike Marcus

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Paisil the young foster kid. So
the pro board will listen if there's public

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pressure, if they think nobody's paying
attention, they'll grant these guys parole.

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And they don't deserve it, all
right, we got to run. But

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when you have a juvenile court judge
who will not allow a vicious juvenile defendant

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to be in jail for one day
or two days. She thinks that the

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assault on the mentality of the criminal
is somehow outweighing the pain of the victim.

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We got major problems. We have
less crime because we've decriminalized crime,

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and all of a sudden, cops
aren't doing their job. But Wayne Reid

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Russell Bell Hamley County Website, Prosecutor's
Office once again, Melissa Powers. Always

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great to speak with you, and
thank you for coming on the Bill Cunningham

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Show. Thank you, Missy.
All the best to you, Bell.

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Thank you, God bless you.
Let's continue with more and becomes available five

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one, three, seven four nine, seven thousand. Bill Cunningham News Radio

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seven hundred. That what you allder
Open up our live stream on the iHeartRadio

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app and take a look at the
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with the microphone on it. That's
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us your thoughts on the current topic, something you think we should discuss,

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or even which one of our personalities
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thinking Jack Crumley. The talkback feature. Check it out on seven hundred.

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Wlw's live stream on the iHeartRadio app. Always at the forefront of new technologe,