State to pay ex-inmate $111,000 for not letting him out of prison

SPRINGFIELD — The state has agreed to pay a man $111,846 because a judge refused to release him from prison after his drug conviction was overturned.

The Dayton Daily News reported Friday that the state Controlling Board is expected to vote Monday on the settlement for Frank Davis.

Davis, once called a “major supplier” of cocaine to the Springfield community, was convicted in 1999 in Clark County and sentenced to 11 years. Authorities said 3 pounds of cocaine were found in Davis’ Springfield home.

Davis denied the drugs were his.

An appeals court overturned Davis’ conviction in 2006 because a search warrant for Davis’ home was defective.

But after the appeals court ruling, Clark County Common Pleas Judge Douglas Rastatter refused to release Davis.

The appeals court subsequently ordered Davis’ release and ruled he spent 192 days wrongfully imprisoned.

“The search warrant was defective because the police searched the entire premises, including his garage, and they did not have probable cause to go into the garage or various other parts of the residence,” said his attorney, Mark Porter of Chagrin Falls.

“The state’s agents didn’t follow the law, and they have to follow the law, otherwise no one is safe.”

Rastatter didn’t return calls for comment.