COLUMBUS - A police homicide sergeant claimed in a recent memo that a prosecutor's investigator is interfering with police work on an arson that killed five college students last year.
Sgt. Wallace Rushin said in the memo that the investigator working for Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien has badgered witnesses and subjected them to extraordinary lie-detector tests.
Investigator Ron Price also has conducted scientific fire tests against the advice of experts and kept new evidence secret, Rushin said.
Price and police are conducting parallel investigations on the rooming house fire near Ohio State University last April. Five students -- three women from Ohio University and two men from Ohio State - died hours after a 21st birthday party held at the house.
Police arrested Robert Lucky Patterson on aggravated murder and aggravated arson charges on Aug. 1. Ten days later, the drifter was released after O'Brien said investigators needed more time to pursue leads and build evidence.
No charges have been filed since, despite a concurring opinion among homicide detectives and Columbus fire investigators that their case against Patterson is strong.
The prosecutor's office has so diluted this case that prosecution of the suspect would almost be impossible at this point
Rushin wrote in the April 7 memo.
The document was addressed to police chief James G. Jackson, and has been dismissed by top brass at the Columbus Division of Police.
Cmdr. Bill Mattei, Rushin's boss, refuted the allegations of the 2.5-page memo after it was made public Monday.
Sgt. Rushin's comments do not represent the position of the Division of Police he said. Mr. O'Brien knows what he's doing.
Jackson apparently has not seen the memo, according to a routing sheet that documents who read the memo, The Columbus Dispatch reported in yesterday's editions.
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