*Update* Runaway con from Akron now fighting Ohio return
Akron native Frank Freshwaters entered a guilty plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in 1957. (Authorities said that he struck and killed a pedestrian with his car.) Under terms of that plea agreement, Freshwaters was given a suspended sentence of one to twenty years. In 1959, he violated his probation and was sent to prison…originally to the Mansfield Ohio State Reformatory (where ‘Shawshank Redemption’ was filmed) and later to the low-security Sandusky Honor Farm for good behavior. Later that year, he escaped. In 1975, he was captured in West Virginia but was not returned to Ohio and Freshwaters was eventually let go.
On May 4th, U.S. Marshals found him in Melbourne, Florida living under an assumed name. Two days later, 79 year-old Frank Freshwaters appeared before the court in a wheelchair and waived any objection to extradition. Today, that changed. Nine days after appearing to clear the legal path for his return to Ohio, Freshwaters’ attorney went to court and essentially asked to take it all back. Bryan Savy says that his client was under a lot of stress and did not understand what he was doing when he waived his right to fight extradition last week. Savy says that Freshwaters had appeared in court without a lawyer and was not advised of his right to have one appointed to his case.
Freshwaters and the state of Ohio are awaiting the judge’s ruling
(jj)
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