False rape case gets new judge

PORT CLINTON — She's no stranger to high-profile cases. The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday appointed retired Cuyahoga County Common Court Pleas Judge Janet Burnside to preside over State vs. Waters. Ottawa County Judge Bruce Winters recused himself from the case, which has a pile of pending motions and some nasty cross allegations, on Oct. 8. Winters provided no explanation for his decision after more than a year presiding over it. Arica Waters, 29, is accused of lying about being raped by a fellow police officer in July 2020. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who is acting as special prosecutor, won't say why he selected to pursue this case. Yost also won't say why he refuses to talk with two other women who say the same man Waters accused also raped them. That man is expected to be Yost's lead witness, who will testify that he was victimized. It's not clear why Waters, who is Black, was charged with falsification and the other two women, who are white, were not. Yost refuses to address that question and others, including why prosecutors failed to inform the defense counsel that their lead witness was accused twice before of rape. They handed over reports about those rape complaints after the Register reported about them. Yost wants the judge to bar the women from testifying, and he also wants Waters' defense attorney, Sarah Anjum, to be prevented from cross-examining the witness about the other rape complaints against him. Judge Burnside served as a visiting judge in Sandusky County in 2018, when former county prosecutor Tim Braun, who sexually molested one employee and sexually harassed several others, took a plea deal that allowed him to avoid prison and also enabled him to collect his full government pension. The deal was viewed as too lenient by some. Many thought the case was fixed. Burnside has a slew of motions upon which she will need to rule, including whether to allow an expert to testify about trauma, whether the witness, through a private investigator, made false allegations against Waters, her attorney and one of the other women who say the same man raped her, and whether the other women who say they were raped by the man will be allowed to testify.