Cases show legal risk for petition circulators

Criminal charges filed against petition circulators accused of falsifying signatures on petitions for the marijuanalegalization ballot issue in 2015 show that people must be careful, Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien said.

“It serves as a cautionary note that people circulating petitions need to be very careful and follow the law when they are gathering signatures,” O’Brien said. “People need to be careful to only sign their own names.”

O’Brien commented Friday as four cases continued to move through Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

A jury Thursday convicted Genesis J. Humphrey, 26, of Columbus, of election falsification, a fifth-degree felony punishable by a maximum of a year in prison. Judge David Gormley scheduled sentencing for Aug. 7.

On Thursday and Friday, respectively, Gormley ordered Kyle J. Dufour, 26, of Groveport, and Celeste A. Clark, 31, of Columbus, to pay a $300 fine and court costs after each pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of falsification, a firstdegree misdemeanor. They initially were charged with election falsification.

Andrew T. Mullet, 21, of Grove City, has pleaded not guilty to election falsification and two related fifth-degree felony charges and is scheduled for trial July 27.

The four paid circulators were accused of allowing some people to sign the petitions on behalf of other people, even though the circulators said they witnessed each person sign his or her own name as required.

Voters rejected the marijuana-legalization ballot issue in November 2015. Ohio allows the use of medical marijuana under a law that took effect in September.