Success Stories
Successful Cases Handled by Russel Bensing
Successful Supreme Court of Ohio Appeals
State v. Castagnola
I was successful in getting the Supreme Court to reverse the trial and appeals court and hold that police went beyond the warrant in searching a computer; court reverses convictions for child pornography, case dismissed.
State v. Thomas
I was successful in getting the Supreme Court to hold that the defendant should have been sentenced under new law rather than old law; 28-year prison sentenced reduced to 14 years.
State v. Walker
I was successful in getting the Supreme Court to reject the State’s argument that defendant acted with prior calculation and design; it affirmed reduction of defendant’s conviction from aggravated murder to murder.
Appeal Success Stories
State v. Weimer
I won reversal of defendant’s aggravated murder conviction and 44-to-life sentence because of error in admission of hearsay evidence.
State v. Pawlak
I was successful in getting defendant’s conviction and ten-year-to-life sentence vacated because trial lawyer was ineffective in not objecting to prejudicial testimony; defendant wound up pleading a lesser charge with a one-year sentence.
State v. Caldwell
I was successful in having defendant’s conviction and 25-to-life sentence vacated because trial judge refused to accept a plea to a lesser charge. On remand to trial court, defendant pled to the lesser charge and was sentenced to time served.
State v. McCully
I won reversal of defendant’s conviction and 25-year sentence for aggravated robbery because the judge did not provide the jury with written instructions on reasonable doubt, burden of proof, and other rights of defendant.
Successful Appeals With Subsequent Successful Trials
State v. Oldham
I was successful in getting defendant’s conviction of felonious assault with a gun and six-year sentence reversed for prosecutorial misconduct. On remand, I tried the case and the defendant was convicted of misdemeanor assault and was freed.
State v. Litten
I was successful in having defendant’s conviction of nine counts of drug possession and trafficking, with firearm specifications, and 16-year-sentence reversed on numerous grounds. I represented the defendant on remand, and successfully pursued a motion to suppress which resulted in eight of the counts being dismissed. The State dismissed the last count on the day of trial, and the defendant walked out of court a free man.
Successful Post-Conviction Relief
State v. McCoy
I was successful in having defendant’s 10-to-life sentence reversed because of ineffective assistance of trial counsel; he pled to a reduced charge and was sentenced to time served.
State v. Clark
Defendant released after serving 23 years for murder of his wife when I showed that prosecutor hid evidence from jury that the wife’s wound had been self-inflicted.