AFTERMATH OF THE DREADFUL PLINTON CASE

He should never have been charged and a jury found him innocent but university officials still decided he was guilty and expelled him -- resulting in his suicide

Charles Plinton was on his way to a master's degree at the University of Akron when drug allegations in 2004 resulted in his suspension despite his acquittal by a trial jury. More than a year later, he took his own life, telling his mother the day he died that he should have his master's degree.

His plight provoked outrage. A group of African-American pastors declared Friday that they will ask the U.S. Department of Justice to determine whether the Summit County Sheriff's Office violated Plinton's civil rights.

The process that led to Friday's news conference began with a simple question: Did Plinton really do it? It wasn't proof enough for the pastors that Plinton was a decent young man with no criminal record pursuing an advanced degree. It wasn't even proof enough that a jury had found him not guilty. ``In the America we have now, especially for black men, we are guilty until proven innocent,'' said the Rev. Bruce Butcher of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Akron. The pastors wanted to know that Plinton didn't do it, or know it as much as possible, before committing their reputations. Rather than rush to the microphones declaring a miscarriage of justice, they wanted to make sure they were right. ``For the first time in the history, that we can think of, in Summit County, the African-American ministers have been able to come together and partner and stay on course,'' said the Rev. William Green of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Barberton, the group's spokesman. ``Everybody had something to lose, and we did not want this to be another racial `you're-doing-something-to-black-folk thing.' '' Green said.

The group of about 30 pastors and a dozen activists and community leaders hired a private investigator to look into the case. Some pastors acknowledged that they were a little fearful that the investigator might determine Plinton's guilt. ``We were prepared for that because it's very possible he could have been, because when I initially heard about the case, I thought he may have been guilty,'' Green said.

Green wasn't alone. Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville, when contacted shortly after Plinton's arrest in 2004, initially believed Plinton probably had sold marijuana. Sommerville asked his personal lawyer, Robert Meeker, to look into the case.

The pastors asked Gregory Harrison, a former Akron police detective, to investigate the investigation that led to a drug trafficking trial. Harrison told them he would first set out to prove that Plinton was guilty. If he could do so quickly, it would save them time, money and embarrassment. Instead, Harrison said, he found so many violations by the drug unit of its policies and procedures -- some of which are noted in Sheriff Drew Alexander's own review of the case -- that he recommends a federal probe. ``There is more evidence in this case to suggest that Charles Plinton was not the person who sold drugs than there is to say he is the person,'' Harrison said.

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation is needed, he said. ``I don't know what's wrong, but I know something's wrong,'' he said. ``I don't have to drink spoiled milk to know it's spoiled.''

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