LISBON — The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office has 21 days to fulfill a public records request from a Belmont Correctional inmate or they may face monetary sanctions from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Justices issued the ruling Thursday in the case of Terry Brown, who filed after he failed to receive documents regarding employees and operations at the privately run county jail from an August 2023 public request.

The bulk of the documents by Brown, who is a former Yellow Creek resident serving a life sentence for the 2017 murder and dismemberment of Scottie Johnson, was excluded from the “fulfilled” records request, as the office didn’t have physical property of the documents so he could access them.

The documents were in the custody of the current private operators of the jail, Community Solutions Group (CSG), and previously GEO group until 2022.

The Supreme Court disagreed with the sheriff’s answer to Brown’s lawsuit and ruled 6-1 (Justice Patrick Fischer dissented) that the sheriff could not redirect Brown’s request for jail records to private operators but has a legal duty to obtain the records and fulfill the public records requests himself.

Any subsequent compliance (or not) will determine any statutory damages to be received by Brown.

According to county assistant prosecutor Krista Peddicord, who is very familiar with Brown through his various court actions, explained that the county’s insurance company is paying for legal representation for the sheriff’s office by Frank H. Scaldone and Zachary W. Anderson of Cleveland-based law firm Mazanec, Raskin and Ryder, LPA. A message left for their office was not returned as of press time Thursday.

Neither jail operator has been named a respondent in this case, although their records are among those being requested by Brown.

According to media reports, Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino had filed paperwork last November, seeking to declare Brown as a vexatious litigator due to his filing of numerous unwarranted mandamus actions against officials involved in his murder case. A visiting judge granted the motion for summary judgement in May, awarding the designation.

The designation did prohibit Brown from filing in any lower level courts below the Supreme Court in the State of Ohio. The ruling said the order shall remain in effect indefinitely.

As of Oct. 17, 2024, Brown is listed among the other hundreds of vexatious litigators on the Ohio Supreme Court’s website.