Stories of 2022: Warner saga dragged on throughout 2022

Former Marion County judge Jason D. Warner, right, and his wife Julia M. Warner are each serving two years in prison after being convicted of complicity to tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony, and complicity to leaving the scene of an accident, a third-degree felony, by visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove during a hearing held March 10, 2021. The Warners unsuccessfully appealed to have their convictions overturned in November 2021 and the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear a subsequent appeal in March 2022.

The saga surrounding former Marion County judge Jason D. Warner and his wife Julia M. Warner didn’t end with their imprisonment earlier in 2022, but instead has dragged on throughout the year.

The Warners were charged for leaving the scene of a crash on June 4, 2020, in which Colton Gray of Marion was severely injured. According to his family, Gray still suffers from “memory loss, major infections, severe cellulitis in his leg, a tear in his kidney, and Bell’s palsy as a result of the crash.

The Warners were each found guilty of complicity to tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony, and complicity to leaving the scene of an accident, a third-degree felony, by visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove during a hearing held March 10, 2021, in Marion County Common Pleas Court. Cosgrove sentenced each of the Warners to two years in prison during a hearing conducted on April 14, 2021.

Jason Warner is incarcerated at the Toledo Correctional Institution. Julia Warner is incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.

The Warners filed appeals seeking to have their convictions overturned, but the Third District Court of Appeals upheld the convictions, issuing rulings in November 2021. They then sought relief from the Ohio Supreme Court, but the state’s highest court declined to hear their cases, noting in rulings issued in March 2022 that it “declines to accept jurisdiction” to hear the cases.

The Ohio Supreme Court suspended Jason Warner from practicing law indefinitely in March 2021. The former judge is currently seeking to have that right restored. His case is being considered by the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct. The panel presiding over the case has yet to issue a ruling.

In a move that caused some controversy locally, several Marion County elected officials, including three sitting judges, wrote letters of support for Jason Warner in his effort to have his right to practice law restored.

Marion County Common Pleas Court Judge Warren T. Edwards was the lone local elected official called by the Disciplinary Counsel to testify in Warner’s hearing before the Board of Professional Conduct.

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“I cannot overexpress the impact this has had on my court,” Judge Edwards said during the hearing held in October. “The public faith in our court system here is at an all-time low where they feel like special treatment was given throughout the process, and your decision here today will greatly impact that. If this man is allowed to practice in this jurisdiction again, it will be seen as special treatment and will undermine the administration of justice in our community.”

The attorney representing Julia Warner filed a motion requesting judicial release on Sept. 4, 2022, in Marion County Common Pleas Court. The motion for early release was filed about six months after Julia Warner was remanded to the custody of the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville to serve the two-year sentence imposed by visiting Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove. The motion was denied by the judge.

In a ruling denying the motion for judicial release, issued Nov. 14, 2022, Judge Cosgrove, who was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to preside over the Warners’ trial in Marion County Common Pleas Court, denied Mrs. Warner’s motion for judicial release. In her ruling, Judge Cosgrove stated that granting Warner’s “motion for judicial release would demean the seriousness of the crimes and not adequately protect society from future crime by (Warner), and other persons.”

Judge Cosgrove denied Warner’s motion “with prejudice” further stating that Warner is “prohibited by law from re-filing a future motion for judicial release,” citing Ohio Revised Code 2929.20 (D). That section of the law states, “If a court denies a motion without a hearing, the court later may consider judicial release for that eligible offender on a subsequent motion filed by that eligible offender unless the court denies the motion with prejudice. If a court denies a motion with prejudice, the court may later consider judicial release on its own motion.”

Judge Cosgrove stated that Ohio law requires the court to consider “seriousness factors” and “whether the victim suffered serious physical and psychological harm as a result of the offense.”

“This must be weighed against the Defendant’s argument that she has been rehabilitated,” Judge Cosgrove wrote in the ruling.

The judge questioned Warner’s assertion that she is remorseful for the incident.

“The Defendant states that she is remorseful for her conduct, despite the fact that she left a severely injured young man trapped inside his vehicle. The Defendant only apologized to the victim several days later after law enforcement had commenced its criminal investigation in this case,” Judge Cosgrove wrote in her ruling.

The judge recounted Colton Gray’s testimony during the trial when he shared about the fear he experienced while being trapped inside his vehicle after the crash until emergency personnel arrived on the scene at the intersection of Ohio 203 and Somerlot Hoffman Road to free him from the vehicle. She also noted that Gray suffered “lasting effects of his injuries, both physical and mental.”

The judge stated in her ruling that Gray suffered and still suffers from “memory loss, major infections, severe cellulitis in his leg, a tear in his kidney, and Bell’s palsy as a result of the crash. He has undergone occupational and physical therapy. He testified at trial that he had to give up his plans to attend college or enter the military because of his injuries.”

Judge Cosgrove stated that she also “took issue” with Warner’s claim that she “cooperated with the authorities” following the June 4, 2020, crash. The judge noted that Warner had “consumed alcohol prior to the incident” and then immediately left the scene of the crash and waited for nine hours before contacting law enforcement, which prevented her from being “tested for impaired driving.”

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Stories of 2022: Warner saga dragged on throughout 2022