Ohio Denies Bar Admission So Long As Applicant Must Register As Sex Offender
A 2011 graduate of Case Western Reserve University Law School has been denied admission to the Ohio Bar.
Although the Licking County Bar Association had recommended approval of the application, the Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness disagreed but proposed that he be permitted to reapply for the July 2014 bar examination.
The court agreed with the board that admission should be denied, but delayed permission to reapply until July 2018.
The applicant was convicted of second-degree felony of pandering obscenity involving a minor in 2007.
The Kenyon Collegian reported on the charges and provided some family background:
The case has made headlines around central Ohio primarily due to controversy surrounding Daubenmire’s father, “Coach” Dave Daubenmire.
The elder Daubenmire was the football coach in London, Ohio, 30 miles west of Columbus when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the school because Daubenmire allegedly started all of the games with a Christian prayer. He is known locally as a “culture warrior” whose ministries include Pass the Salt and Minutemen United, a lobbying organization that counts among its victories a large superstore chain’s decision to remove soft-core pornography from their shelves and the removal of a “homosexual bathhouse” from a Columbus neighborhood. Dave Daubenmire also made national headlines when he was arrested protesting the decision to remove Terri Schiavo from her feeding tube by attempting to deliver Schiavo a cup of water.
The elder Daubenmire and his wife released a statement about their son on one of their ministry’s websites. “What he has done is shameful, despicable, and repulsive, they wrote. “But he is our son and we love him. We will walk this path together.” The Daubenmires also expressed gratitude, saying, “The wound had been exposed. He has come clean. We can finally help him get well.”
The court here found him “an unlikely candidate to engage in the conduct that led to his arrest and conviction” as he was raised “in a strict religious household and was a good student and star athlete.” He admitted that he began to look at Internet pornography in high school and downloaded pictures of children under eighteen.
His conduct was discovered when his computer malfunctioned and was sent to a repair shop by his father. The repair technician found the files and reported it to authorities. The applicant cooperated with the criminal investigation and pleaded no contest to charges.
The applicant attended law school because he understood that he would be barred from his chosen career as a coach and teacher. He fully disclosed the situation in his law school application and has complied with treatment.
The court decision will permit reapplication after his obligation to register as a sex offender expires. (Mike Frisch)