Way back in good old 2022, we wrote a couple of articles dealing with then Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Eugene Lucci. The Honorable Judge was presiding over a case dealing with a citizen named Mason Bryant. Once sentenced, Mr. Bryant verbally attacked Judge Lucci, and the judge added additional time to the original sentence.
Here is the original article that we published:
“According to the recent majority opinion (State v. Bryant) from the Ohio Supreme Court, Judge Eugene Lucci lost his temper dealing with a defendant in a trial three years ago. The defendant spewed some profanities at the judge after receiving a 22 year sentence and Judge Lucci, cold-heartedly and illegally, added 6 years to the defendant’s sentencing after being offended by the outburst.”
LFC’s Brian Massie
When I mentioned this fact at a Commissioners’ meeting, Assistant Prosecutor Dave Hackman came to the aid of Judge Lucci, stating that, in his opinion, the Supreme Court was incorrect in their assessment that Judge Lucci lost his temper. Mr. Hackman willingly sent me a video of the incident in the courtroom, and I also found it on Judge Lucci’s website after speaking to Judge Lucci.
After looking at the video of the incident in Judge Lucci’s courtroom, I updated my article and added the following statement:
Upon watching the videos, I agree that Judge Lucci did not lose his temper; and, in my opinion, acted totally appropriately toward the defendant. He did his job of protecting the citizens of Lake County.
LFC’s Brian Massie
We would like to thank a Concord Township lobbyist for sending us the following document dated March 17, 2023 that closes the loop on this incident.
So there we have it, the system worked. Judge Lucci is vindicated by the Disciplinary Counsel of The Ohio Supreme Court ruling and the case is now closed. Another happy ending to this story is that the citizens of Lake County voted Judge Lucci to hold a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “All’s well that ends well”, as the old saying goes. Convicted Mason Bryant may have a strong objection to that statement.
One final note to Judge Lucci. I still think you “swung and missed” on ruling that the Lake County Visitors Bureau is not a public body in our lawsuit against the Lake County Commissioners. Receiving revenue from the hotel bed tax does not make the citizens that pay the bed tax dues paying members of the Visitors Bureau; thereby allowing them to comply with the IRS ruling of being a member based organization. Perhaps we should have had a better lawyer!
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Categories: Lake County - General, Lake County Politics, Uncategorized