Hung jury in podcaster case

SANDUSKY — After deliberating for roughly five hours on Tuesday, the jury in a local podcaster's felony mortgage fraud case couldn't reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared. The podcaster, Ashli Ford, 41, of Milan, faced 12 felony charges, including tampering with records, forgery, aggravated theft and identity fraud in the Erie County Common Pleas Court with Judge Beverly McGookey presiding over the case. The case involved allegations that Ford signed a co-signer's name — that of a male victim who previously testified last week — on federal loan documents without his consent and that she had falsely stated a familial relationship in the documents. Ford then allegedly used the funds secured in the loan to dismiss a home foreclosure action and modify the loan. The state attempted to prove that Ford signed documents using the victim's name and additionally used his name in recorded phone conversations without his consent. The defense sought to discredit the state's case and additionally claimed that witness testimony was not truthful and that Ford had permission to do so. Jurors first started deliberating on Friday and resumed on Tuesday after the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter said that before McGookey declared a mistrial, the jury was read a Howard charge at about 10:40 a.m. The Howard charge is given to a hung jury, urging them to continue deliberating and try to reach a verdict. The jurors then broke for lunch and, upon returning, deliberated for about an hour before McGookey declared a mistrial. Despite the hung jury, Baxter indicated his office intends to put Ford on trial once more on the same charges, which is legally allowed and does not violate the "double jeopardy" clause, as the jury could not determine the defendant's guilt or innocence. He said that McGookey rescheduled the case for a second jury trial, slated to begin on Sept. 28. When asked for comment after the hearing on Tuesday, Ford's defense attorney, Peter Pattakos, referred a reporter to a Facebook post he made. "The jury came back deadlocked today as to all twelve felony counts against our client Ashli Ford, which, to us, speaks more to the corruption of the jury pool in this case than to anything relative to the merits of the ridiculous charges the Erie County Prosecutor brought against Ms. Ford," Pattakos wrote.