Hi everyone, as you know, the FreeTonyViola.com Blog welcomes guest bloggers to share their stories and perspectives.  This week, I’m delighted to welcome Si Parianos to our site.  Si is an Australian school teacher, advocate, and documentary filmmaker currently producing a documentary focused on the wrongful conviction of Robert J. Ruark.  Si’s blog highlights the story of Robert Ruark’s wrongful conviction and the crusade by his family and supporters asking Governor DeWine to commute his sentence.  As always, your thoughts or suggestions are welcome and appreciated, so please post your comments below or contact Si directly at [email protected].  Thanks for reading our blog!

 

"A convicted murderer and rapist of a little girl was sentenced to death. Years later, he was exonerated. In 1993, DNA proved Kirk Bloodsworth’s innocence—he was the first death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Since that landmark case, the Innocence Project reports that 570 wrongful convictions have been overturned through DNA testing. These convictions were often based on flawed evidence, such as bite marks, fingerprint analysis, carpet fibers, and eyewitness testimonies. Sometimes, the eyewitnesses were the victims themselves. Most exonerees spent decades in prison before they were freed. But what about the innocent people for whom no DNA evidence exists?

The legal standard to overturn a conviction is "clear and convincing evidence," an extremely high bar to meet without DNA evidence. This leaves many wrongfully convicted individuals languishing in prison, trapped in a system built more for retribution than for justice.

I am the voice for Robert J. Ruark and others like him. He is one of the many wrongfully convicted people for whom DNA cannot provide exoneration. According to Columbia Law professor James Liebman, incompetent defense lawyering accounts for one-third of wrongful convictions. Robert's case is part of that statistic. His trial counsel was incompetent on every level.

Robert Ruark was defending his brother from armed trespassers who violently assaulted the teenager at gunpoint in their mother’s yard. Nearly 10 witnesses and the three guns found at the scene supported Robert’s self-defense claim. The trespassers were dangerous men—the deceased was out on bond for attempted murder. One of the victims, who Robert and the witnesses say pointed a gun at his brother’s face, was later charged with two counts of felonious assault, witness intimidation, and weapons violations after he attempted to kill the mother of Robert’s children so she would not testify at his trial. Any competent lawyer could have prevented Robert from being found guilty of murder.

Robert spent 18 months in county jail. His lawyer placed him in segregation for the final 90 days leading up to the trial. During his time in jail, self-defense was the only defense discussed and decided. Robert began to doubt his lawyer’s abilities a few months before the trial and tried to fire him. The court discussed this just before the trial began, but Chris Cicero, his lawyer, manipulated the judge into allowing him to continue as Robert’s defense counsel.

Halfway through the trial, Cicero asked Robert if they were still pursuing a self-defense argument. Robert replied, "Of course." Yet, a few days later, Cicero manipulated Robert into abandoning the self-defense claim altogether. Cicero has since been permanently disbarred for his manipulative and unethical tactics. In the end, there was no defense presented on Robert's behalf. Not one of the 10 witnesses waiting outside the courtroom was called to testify for him. No explanation of the events of that night was ever given. Robert was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison.

Robert cannot meet the “clear and convincing evidence” standard required to be awarded a new trial. Despite this, we continue to fight to clear his name. Our only option now is to ask Ohio’s governor to show mercy and grant him clemency. Robert has been imprisoned for over 16 years. He’s missed countless milestones in his four children’s lives. Despite this, he has continued to parent them from inside prison walls, guiding them through school and into college, with their careers soon to follow. Robert has maintained hope and has inspired both those inside and outside the prison to find purpose and contribute positively to the world through their actions.

Hundreds of people have heard Robert’s plea and signed his clemency petition, but we need thousands more to bring him home. Nearly a dozen prison administrators who have known Robert throughout his incarceration have written letters of support to the governor, urging his early release. Please join us in supporting Robert’s fight for freedom by signing the petition at change.org/freerobert2026 to demonstrate that we will no longer be silenced about wrongful convictions."

# # #