Scott Blankenburg pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. A jury found Mark Blankenburg guilty of molesting three former patients, and other charges involving drugs and money he paid the patients for their silence. He was sentenced to 20 to 27 years in prison.
Blankenburg lost his first appeal in the 12th District Court of Appeals in March and his attorney Chris Pagan filed a second appeal in the 12th District in June. He also has an appeal pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.
In the second appeal, he says Judge Keith Spaeth erroneously dismissed his petition for post-conviction relief based on juror misconduct. The doctor alleged one of the jurors, whose son was a patient of Blankenburg’s, was heard saying she wanted to get on the jury so she could “see Blankenburg fry.” Spaeth dismissed the petition because he said the issue should have been raised on direct appeal.
Michael Oster, chief of the Butler County prosecutor’s appellate division, answered the second appeal saying Blankenburg should have recognized one of his patient’s parents during jury selection and objected. He also said Spaeth didn’t just dismiss the petition because the timing was off, he said the affidavits Blankenburg used to bolster his claims of juror misconduct were inadmissable hearsay and the request lacked merit.
“Appellant’s claim of juror misconduct is, at worst, comprised of unbelievable fabrications and, at best, speculative and supported by only marginal evidence,” Oster wrote.
The fact that the juror in question raised several issues that might disqualify her as a juror during jury selection, also doesn’t jibe with a supposed vendetta, Oster wrote.
Pagan said he had not yet read the prosecutor’s response and therefore could not comment.
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