Ohio county commissioner arrested for disruption during board meeting, accuses police of punishing Free Speech — later prevails in federal lawsuit

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In July 2022, a Trumbull County commissioner was arrested at a board meeting after speaking out against the sheriff’s department with regard to jail conditions. She went on to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the other commissioners, the county, the sheriff’s office, and two sheriff’s office sergeants. In January 2024, a federal judge ruled in her favor.

Key Players

Niki Frenchko (R) has been a county commissioner of Trumbull County, in northeastern Ohio, since January 2021. She has a notable track record of purported disruptive behavior in her role, but had never been formally disciplined prior to her July 7, 2022, arrest.

Paul Monroe has served as Trumbull County sheriff since December 2016. He denied that Frenchko’s criticism of jail conditions led to her arrest in any way.

Further Details

Trumbull County is home to nearly 200,000 people and is located in northeast Ohio, with Warren as its county seat. It constitutes the area immediately north of Youngstown, and is just over 50 miles east of Cleveland.

Frenchko holds one of three seats on the county Board of Commissioners, and the other two are held by Democrats Frank S. Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa.

Frenchko has been criticized for untoward conduct at meetings several times. In March 2022, the editorial board of the Tribune Chronicle commented on an incident in which she sprayed water on three county administrators. The board called the episode “despicable,” as well as “illogical and appalling.” 

The editorial board of The Vindicator has made similar comments about Frenchko’s track record of allegedly unprofessional conduct, noting that she often directs profanity-laced remarks at other commissioners during county business proceedings. The board accuses her of having publicly “belittled” several colleagues. However, no action had been taken against Frenchko before the July 7 incident. 

On June 1, 2022, Frenchko made statements at a county meeting condemning the treatment of an inmate in one of the county’s jails. She had read an email from the inmate’s mother, who accused officers of ignoring her son’s requests for antibiotics despite an illness, the Tribune Chronicle reported. WKBN published the full text of the email, which states that shortly after being released from jail, the man was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a serious case of meningitis, which can be life-threatening. 

On July 5, Monroe sent a letter to the county commissioners demanding that Frenchko make a public apology for what he called “unfounded allegations,” the Tribune Chronicle said. Monroe also criticized Frenchko for entering this claim into the record before verifying its accuracy, and continued to note that an internal investigation found no evidence that any medical mistreatment of the then-inmate had occurred. 

Monroe asked in the letter that Frenchko apologize “in the same public forum as was the publication of the false accusations.”

During the reading of the letter, Frenchko spoke out of turn multiple times, apparently in defense of her original comments. The Tribune Chronicle reported that she attempted to list other complaints regarding jail conditions that she had received since the June 1 meeting, and she repeatedly spoke while the letter was still being read for the record. 

Cantalamessa then told Frenchko she was being disruptive, at which point two deputies approached her. She was escorted out of the room and handcuffed, according to the Tribune Chronicle. Cantalamessa stated that while he did mention Frenchko’s disruptive behavior, he had not called for his colleague’s arrest. 

Frenchko was taken into custody and charged with disrupting a public meeting, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. She was released after being given a court date, according to WKBN. Frenchko denied that her behavior was disruptive and accused the sheriff’s office of making a retaliatory arrest. She stated she “was arrested for exercising [her] First Amendment rights.” 

Frenchko argued that in the previous several months, sheriff’s deputies had not attended county meetings, and that they must have been there with the express mission to arrest her. Monroe responded that his deputies were there at the request of other commissioners, the Tribune Chronicle reported. 

Monroe said Frenchko’s conduct was illegal, giving his deputies no choice. He told WKBN that “what [Frenchko] did violated the law, and she forced our deputies to take official action.”

Outcome

Frenchko pleads not guilty

On July 8, 2022, Frenchko filed a written not guilty plea, rather than attend her arraignment. Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak then filed a request to the Ohio Supreme Court asking to be replaced on the case, citing a potential conflict of interest, Vindicator reported. Frenchko called on her constituents to express their objections to her arrest, saying, “They should be outraged that I’m getting treated the way I am for doing what they elected me to do,” WKBN reported.

On August 4, Frenchko’s attorney, David Betras, requested at a pretrial hearing that Frenchko’s trial occur outside Trumbull County to ensure a fair process, WKBN reported. Betras made the request on the grounds that “It would take us forever to pick a jury here. I’m gonna be formally filing a motion to change a venue just so we can have people who don’t know anything about Niki Frenchko.”

In August 2022, the charges against Frenchko were dropped because of “insufficient evidence to proceed,” according to WKBN. 

Editorial board condemns Frenchko’s arrest, hints at potential lawsuit

On July 15, 2022, the editorial board of The Vindicator published a piece calling Frenchko’s arrest “an alarming challenge to our freedom of speech.” The board was skeptical of an arrest that took place during debates of sheriff’s office conduct, but featured none of the profanity or water bottle-based outbursts that had not resulted in any consequences. 

The newspaper noted that Betra called the arrest an attempt to “silence” Frenchko and stated that he and his client were considering filing a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Frenchko sues 

On April. 17, 2023, Frenchko filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Cantalamessa, Fuda, the county, the sheriff’s office, and two sheriff’s office sergeants who arrested her. Frenchko argued that the sheriff’s sergeants arrested her without probable cause and subsequently violated her Free Speech rights.

Frenchko also brought forth claims for false arrest, malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy, battery, assault, destruction of public records, civil liability for criminal acts, and conversion (unauthorized control over property of another person), according to official court documents. 

District court sides with Frenchko 

In January 2024, U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese — nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2020 — sided with Frenchko saying, “Here in America, we do not arrest our political opponents.”

“This case tests that longstanding norm as well as our Constitution’s robust protections for free speech that allow us to criticize our representatives and public officials,” Calabrese wrote. “Plaintiff Niki Frenchko won election to the three-member Board of County Commissioners of Trumbull County, Ohio. She was an outsider, and the only member of County government from her political party. As a public official, she used her position to needle the incumbents and, in her view, hold them accountable for their decisions. For their part, they viewed her as ignorant of the basic workings of county government and a nuisance, to put it mildly.”

Calabrese found the two other commissioners, Sheriff Monroe, and the two sheriff’s sergeants personally liable for damages, to be determined at a later hearing. However, Calabrese stopped short of striking down the law that ostensibly led to her arrest. 
In response to the verdict, Frenchko released a statement saying, “I was compelled to file this suit because if public officials can use their offices and power to silence me, they can do it to anyone. This is a tremendous day for freedom of speech, the rule of law, and democracy.”