Judge scolds company over jury leave policy

The judge presiding over the death-penalty trial of Lincoln S. Rutledge didn’t hide his displeasure last week when he learned that one of the jurors was no longer being paid by his employer to serve on the jury.

The jury had convicted Rutledge of purposely killing a Columbus police officer and was listening to mitigating factors to determine whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison.

On Tuesday, into the jury’s third week of service, the juror informed the court that his employer would pay for only two weeks of jury duty. He told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott that he was using vacation time to continue serving.

The judge said he called the employer, Molina Healthcare, in an effort to convince management about the importance of the case and the juror’s service, but couldn’t get the Northeast Side-based company to alter its policy.

Serrott excused the juror and replaced him with an alternate, but not before naming and criticizing the employer in open court.

“Jurors doing their civic duty should in no way be penalized and have to use their own time,” he said.

In a later text exchange with Dispatch courts reporter John Futty, the judge called Molina’s refusal to make an exception for a case of such magnitude “corporate irresponsibility at its worst.”

A Molina spokeswoman told The Dispatch by email that “while neither state nor federal law require employers to compensate employees for time related to jury duty,” Molina grants its workers up to 80 hours of paid leave to serve on juries. Beyond that, she wrote, employees may take unpaid leave or use their “substantial paid time off benefit” to supplement any additional jury duty.

Tommy Thompson still hazy on gold location

A hearing with Tommy Thompson is, to quote the judge, like “the proverbial dog chasing its tail,” Dispatch reporter Earl Rinehart said.

For 18 months, U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley has tried to get the former treasure hunter to reveal the location of the remaining SS Central America gold.

Thompson has fired and hired a boatload of attorneys. Doctors haven’t found a medical reason he can’t remember. He refuses to grant access to a Belizean trust, saying it’s important “to protect everyone’s interests.”

On Friday, he said an ailment gives him “adrenaline surges” that leave him disoriented.

“If it sounds weird, that’s because it is weird,” he said.

And about reviewing documents of the 1985 discovery, there were computer glitches and a nonworking password.

“You’re telling me during the two weeks set aside you didn’t review them?” Marbley asked.

“Maybe a couple of hours,” Thompson said.

Marbley stopped him from saying more before “you go down the wrong road.”

He reminded Thompson he had agreed to help investors find the gold to “purge himself” of a civil contempt ruling that’s kept him in jail since December 2015.

“You continue to dazzle this court with your recall of other matters,” Marbley said. “Yet, you cannot remember the location of what is the crown jewel, if you excuse the pun, of your career.”

Marbley gave him another two weeks to review the documents. Meanwhile, Thompson’s not going anywhere.