JUDGE ORDERS FIRED COP REHIRED

Sess Admitted Planting Drugs

A judge on Wednesday ruled that a cop who admitted planting drugs on a
suspect and smoking pot himself must get his job back.

John Sess could be back on the job as a police sergeant in a week. He is
the 11th Cincinnati police officer fired since 1996 to be rehired following
arbitration.

In this case, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Fred Cartolano
upheld a July ruling by arbitrator Harry Berns.

The arbitrator found the city failed to present evidence to prove Sess
should be disciplined for planting marijuana on a suspect or smoking the
drug 14 years earlier while off-duty on a fishing trip.

Berns ordered Sess reinstated and the city to pay him for the 4 1/2 years
he was off the force.

In 1997, Sess applied for a job with a Cincinnati Police Division drug unit
that required a polygraph test. Before taking that test, Sess admitted to a
superior he smoked pot with two fellow officers in 1983 on a fishing trip
in Adams County. Sess also admitted he planted marijuana 1984 on Shadarle
Ragan, a man who admitted to police he threw pot away as he ran from police.

Sess was then investigated by police and was indicted by a Hamilton County
grand jury. A judge, though, threw out the charges because Sess signed a
Cincinnati police form that promises immunity from prosecution if officers
tell the truth.

"He did not lie. He told the truth. Now, he didn't get the job. . . . He
got all this notoriety. That's a pretty good punishment as far as I'm
concerned," Cartolano said.

Steve Lazarus, a Fraternal Order of Police lawyer, said Sess likely will be
back on the job by next week.

Some fellow officers say that will be an awkward situation. "It's going to
be extremely difficult for guys to work next to John Sess because of that
trust issue," said Cincinnati Police Specialist Roger Webster, chairman of
the FOP's grievance committee.

"If he's out there making an arrest, is he really making these things up?
Is he falsify ing evidence? Guys will look at that. Will they trust him?
Probably not."

Webster, who graduated from the police academy with Sess, admitted he was
initially dubious about the charges against Sess because he had a stellar
reputation. Since Sess has admitted to his acts, though, officers may be
wary. "At this point, I don't know that I could work with him," Webster said.

"The thing I value most or you should value most as a police officer is
your reputation, both among your colleagues and in the courts. Especially
now, at this date and time, nobody believes a cop anyway."

Sess has earned some sympathy, but not much.

"I really feel sorry for the man because he had to do that, but he made the
conscious decision to bring this issue up and unfortunately now he's kind
of blackballed for the rest of his career and the rest of his life,"
Webster said.

The arbitrator said Sess couldn't be punished for smoking pot while
off-duty - especially if the two other officers doing the same thing
weren't punished.

Sess also couldn't be punished for planting the drugs, the arbitrator
ruled, because the drugs Ragan threw away - and not the drugs planted on
him by Sess - were used to convict Ragan. The planted drugs were used to
trick Ragan into confessing to a real crime, and courts have held that
trickery is acceptable to induce a confession.