Wudge, THANK YOU.
I very much understand your statement of exposing corruption either wholeheartedly or not at all. My reluctance is with anything local, as citizens literally die or go away forever under false charges in many cases where they had angered officials or had incriminating information concerning wrongdoing.
The witness statements and court documents in these cases were privately collected by a Citizen's Task Force these last 15 years, and I have met the founder and members this last January. I collected and sorted what I felt could be reliable and documented information to investigators and took 4 weeks writing a cover letter, completing the complaint form, and building a document packet. That effort led to a request from DOJ for more information, and I then took 10 weeks writing a timeline, pages of witness lists and contact #s, and additional court documents and witness statements. I must have rewritten everything 5 or 6 times, and still made last minute alterations as I was doing final preparations.
Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of an attorney. Since RICO and Color of Law acts are involved, I sought an attorney that could practice in a federal court. He reviewed my information and finally told me I must attain an attorney in Ohio where the cases occured, and I am 1,000 miles away from there. I have recently begun speaking with a local attorney in Preble County who is well aware of the corruption there. However, the DOJ complaint was already submitted by the time I found the attorney. I understand it is probably going to take more than just my complaint to get DOJ to act, so I am seeking attention to our situation in any way I can find it. I am always worried about slander/libel, and try never to make a statement without a legal document to back it up - I try to keep all personal opinions and thoughts out of print.
I was widowed in my 20s...we were going to live forever and never considered life insurance. We had 3 young children and it was important for me to be at home when they were toddlers, and before and after school as they grew. I am intelligent and able-bodied, I refuse to ask for financial assitance or government programs. I am now in my 40s and make just enough to live by. I cannot afford an attorney and am hoping RICO will be included in charges, then attorney fees will be covered.
OBCI has had the case for years now and it remains open (but they admitted Preble County was one of the most corrupt in Ohio). FBI investigated but came to a standstill years ago, and has no idea of the huge amount of witnesses and information we have collected since the internet made it possible for us to reach so many citizens (they did confidentially admit to a witness that they were sure authorities had killed everyone in the triple, but they had covered their tracks really well. The Task Force eventually located eyewitnesses and taped their testimonies.) We tried submitting our additional information this year, but there were so many calls from citizens in the county that they were incredulous and finally said they would not look into anything unless DOJ told them to. I have several investigative journalists in various stages of projects, but nothing will be happening in the near future...the story is just too huge with so many cases.
Your post is so generous in advice, I can't thank you enough. I will be sure to contact the local attorney there and ask about my public efforts right away. Don't leave me, Wudge, I wish I had you to consult with this last year! I do not wish to be ugly or false in my allegations toward specific officials, I want to keep everything fact based. I worry about mentioning actual names of accused authorities in these forums. Do you recommend anything I can research concerning libel laws?
I promise, I will think of this and apply it before I make a single move.
The time you took to address my situation in humbling, I cannot properly express to you how grateful I am for your observations and advice.
Widow, again, do not consider anything I say here to be legal advice, nor is it intended to be legal advice.
One key aspect of a slander/libel lawsuit is that "truth" is a perfect defense. By "truth", I mean absolute, unimpeachable truth that could be presented in a courtroom by a competent attroney, because a clean and clear audit trail exists that details that truth.
However, if you "feel", if you "think", if you "believe" something to be true and express it as "factual" through written words or voice it publically in a way that is attachable to one or more persons, then you run the risk of having that person or persons sue you for slander/libel/defamation of character.
People who have issues against others should always be very careful not to turn opinion into fact. Repeat, avoid turning opinion into fact via the form of your words/sentences.
I feel, I think, I believe, etc., are "generally" taken to represent the form of an opinion. However, declaring that Sally is a robber or Joe is a murderer would not be considered by a Judge to be the expression of an opinion.
I suspect that you know enough to be extremely cautious (note: the word "suspect" is in the form of an opinion), but I am not sure.
One thing I am fairly sure of is that (IQ wise) you are not dumb. That does not mean you will not make a dumb mistake based on emotions though.
Many libel/slander attorneys make a very nice living going after people who do make such dumb mistakes. Attorneys like Lin Wood who successfully won awards/judgments in numerous cases on behalf of clients such as: Richard Jewell (Olympic bombing) and the Ramseys (Jon Benet) and Gary Condit (against Dominic Dunn in the Chandra Levy case), etc..
And do not think you can just retract a poor statement by covering up afterwards. For example, if JoeBlow were to say on TV that Mr. Murphy is a murderer, then that better have been proven true in a court of law. At the end of that TV program, JoeBlow should not expect to be able to escape a defamation lawsuit by saying that "everything I said earlier was just my opinion". A bell rung is a bell rung.
All of the above said, go to the library and spend a few days reading up on libel/slander. After that, call an attorney to discuss any questions that remain. And don't say you can't afford to get a short sit-down. A short sit down would likely be thousands of times cheaper than the cost of defending yourself in a lawsuit.
As regards your particular interests, caution in what you say anywhere or write anywhere should always be on your mind, always.
Remember, how you do what you do matters a great deal in most any aspect of life. So think about taking time out to get 100% up-to-speed on defamation/slander/libel.
(all of the above said only with an intent to be possibly helpful)