Kirkersville victims’ families withdraw lawsuits

Lawsuits filed by the families of two employees of the Pine Kirk Care Center in Kirkersville killed in May 2017 have been dismissed at the request of the plaintiffs.

All claims but one in a lawsuit filed by the family of former Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric Disario have also been withdrawn.

Disario, 38; Pine Kirk nurse Marlina Medrano, 46; and Pine Kirk nurse’s aide Cindy Krantz, 48, were all killed on May 12, 2017 by Thomas Hartless, the estranged boyfriend of Medrano.

Disario’s widow and children filed a lawsuit days before the two-year anniversary of the shooting against Licking County Municipal Court Judges Michael Higgins and David Stansbury, as well as the city of Newark and four Municipal Court probation officers.

Within days, lawsuits were also filed by the families of Krantz and Medrano.

Krantz’s family and Medrano’s family have received court approval to dismiss their lawsuits entirely, according to Licking County Common Pleas Court records.

Disario’s family requested dismissal of claims in their lawsuit against everyone but Licking County probation officer Karrie Rice. That claim is also likely to be withdrawn in the coming weeks.

Attorney Nathan Painter, who represents all three families, said the dismissal requests were procedural and something he anticipated would happen when he filed the cases.

“There’s been some new case law come up, frankly, that we want to make sure that we consider,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s.”

The families had to initially file within the required two-year statute of limitations, but with the dismissal they have an additional year to refile their suits.

“My intention is to consult with my clients and we’ll make a decision,” Painter said. “We’ll do what is in the best interest of the families.”

Hartless was on probation at the time of the shooting for three convictions of domestic violence from March 2017. He had been released early from jail, serving less than three weeks of a 90-day sentence imposed by Higgins.

On May 26, 2017, about two weeks after the shooting, Higgins and the probation department released a report showing a failure to properly review case files and make proper recommendations for early release, which was approved without a hearing in open court.

The lawsuit also says the probation department and Higgins failed to hold “any meaningful review” before releasing Hartless and did not properly assess him when he appeared for his first meeting with a probation officer.

By admitting their own failures in the handling of the case, the lawsuit alleged that the probation department, municipal court and Higgins were acknowledging their part in the deaths of Krantz, Medrano and Disario.