Prosecution, defense rest in Ford case

SANDUSKY — Closing statements wrapped up Wednesday in the case of a podcaster accused of attempting to extort government officials and private citizens. Defense and prosecution attorneys finished questioning Ashli Ford, 40, of Milan, in the third day of her trial in the Erie County Common Pleas Court. It's a bench trial, being heard by a judge and no jury, with visiting Lorain County Judge Debra Boros presiding. Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases and both prosecutor Kevin Baxter and defense attorney Stephen Albenze delivered their final remarks. There was also a brief recalling of a prior witness — Norwalk Mayor Dave Light — to clarify some aspects of his previous testimony. Next, Boros is set to deliberate on Ford's case. She set a 1:30 p.m. Thursday date to return to court, and it's believed a verdict could be announced then. Case recap Ford faces the following charges: • Nine counts of extortion, each a third-degree felony • Four counts of intimidation, each a third-degree felony • Three counts of telecommunications fraud, each a fifth-degree felony • Three counts of falsification, each a first-degree misdemeanor Closing arguments Baxter used his closing argument to recap much of the past testimony over the course of the trial, arguing that Ford's conduct went beyond her First Amendment protection and into criminality. Baxter mentioned each witness and reiterated that the law enforcement and government officials she claimed to have talked to and given evidence had refuted her claims during the trial. Albenze claims that everything Ford said is protected First Amendment speech. "You're allowed to be a member of the KKK. You're allowed to think your leaders are corrupt," Albenze said. "As long as you don't weaponize it and use it to hurt other people." He also argued that if anything said by Ford is open to interpretation, the benefit of the doubt has to go to her. Ford's testimony The defense attempted to play a 57-minute podcast video purporting to show Ford's thoughts on the Amanda Dean case. In February 2024, a man named Fred Reer, 41, who was Amanda Dean's boyfriend at the time of her 2017 disappearance, was indicted by a Huron County grand jury for murder and other felony charges, including tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. Baxter objected on the grounds of hearsay, and the judge sustained the objection. The video was not shown. During her testimony, she levied new allegations against public officials, including claiming one official committed sex crimes. She claims the Norwalk Schools board contacted her in an attempt to stop a Norwalk tax incentive program from being approved. According to Ford, the program — called a community reinvestment area — was then blocked the next day due to her efforts. "I believe everything that I said is protected under the First Amendment," she testified. Ford said she made $20,000 per month, which then dropped to about $6,000 each month. On cross-examination, a comment made by Ford in Facebook post was again brought up. Ford had said, "I will lead you to your demise more akin to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King Jr.," in reference to several of the listed victims in the case. Several of those victims previously testified that they interpreted the remark as a threat — because both Malcolm X and King Jr. were both killed. The difference being that while both men died violently, Malcolm X died in a more violent manner than King Jr. Baxter inquired why Ford chose to use two assassinated individuals in her analogy and not use politicians who left office in disgrace, like former U.S. President Richard Nixon. Ford responded that she does not identify as being white — she instead identifies as Sicilian. Thus, she said, she identifies more with Black civil rights leaders than a white U.S. president. Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that criminal defendant Ashli Ford made $20,000 per month, and later $6,000 per month, from Patreon subscriptions. Her attorney, Stephen Albenze, told the newspaper after the story had published that those income figures were separate from Ford's Patreon account. The distinction was not clear from the trial testimony.