An appeals court on Thursday overturned the conviction of former Cuyahoga County Jail Administrator Ken Mills.
Prosecutors said in a trial last year Mills mishandled the jail and created an unsafe environment for inmates. A jury subsequently found Mills guilty of four misdemeanor counts and not guilty of one felony. Visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove gave him a nine-month sentence in October 2021.
The 8th District Court of Appeals ruled Cosgrove should have never allowed the use of a photo of a person who died at the jail and testimony about deaths there, including from outside the time period when Mills was employed by the county.
“Only after 14 of the state’s witnesses had testified, did the court finally decide that it would no longer allow witnesses to utter the word ‘death’ or testify that inmates died while in the county jail,” the ruling’s author, Judge Cornelius O’Sullivan wrote.
The court singled out a photo of a man who died at the jail in 2018, Joseph Arquillo, as especially problematic.
The prosecutors claimed the photo, which showed Arquillo doubled over on the floor in obvious need of medical care, was evidence of the consequences of overcrowding at the jail.
But the decision overturning Mills’ conviction points out the photo shows plenty of space around Arquillo and its use in the trial likely prejudiced the jury against Mills.
“We find the security camera image of Arquillo to be a most egregious and prejudicial piece of evidence and the state’s reason for its admission incredible,” O’Sullivan wrote. “The image shows a rather large space with three men, including Arquillo, on mattresses on the floor, and a small group of other men in another area of the room. If the state wanted to show that the jail was overcrowded, there was ample other testimony to support its argument.”
Mills was charged in 2019 with five counts related to overcrowding, insufficient medical care and several deaths at the jail. He was never charged with direct responsibility for any of the deaths.
The first three charges covered lies he told Cuyahoga County Council during a May 2018 appearance. Two additional counts of dereliction of duty are for his role overseeing the jail during 2017 and 2018, when his boss, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, sought to expand the population at the downtown Cleveland facility by bringing in prisoners from across the county.
Prosecutors in Mills’ case allege that decision, and Mills’ refusal to spend enough money on medical care, contributed to the nine deaths at the jail between 2018 and 2019.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost prosecuted Mills and will decide whether to try him again. A spokesman for Yost’s office said they are reviewing the decision and determining next steps.
