CINCINATTI (LifeSiteNews) A Hamilton County judge has ordered a man convicted of fentanyl possession to receive COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of remaining on probation and out of jail.
Brandon Rutherford and his attorney plan to fight back against Judge Christopher Wagner’s mandate. Wagner is not the only judge to require COVID vaccination, as fellow Ohio county Judge Richard Frye has also ordered it in Franklin County.
“You’re going to maintain employment. You’re not going to be around a firearm. I’m going to order you, within the next two months, to get a vaccine and show that to the probation office,” Wagner reportedly told Rutherford. Wagner is a member of the Democratic Party and first took office in January 2021.
“I don’t plan on getting it. I don’t want it,” Rutherford told WCPO. “So, for him to tell me that I have to get it in order for me to not violate my probation is crazy because I’m just trying to do what I can to get off this as quickly as possible, like finding a job and everything else, but that little thing can set me back.”
Rutherford said he has been avoiding trouble and wants to find work, but is worried about being sent to jail because he won’t take the vaccine. He is concerned that a prison record will make it harder for him to amend his life. He could spend 18 months in prison if he refuses to get vaccinated.
A New England attorney told the Daily Mail that the requirement goes beyond the judge’s power. Norman Pattis called the mandate “an abuse of the courts discretion” and “frankly terrifying.”
While Rutherford plans to challenge the order, there is some judicial precedent that may help him. Federal judges in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also covers Ohio, affirmed inmates could continue to sue to stop a Tennessee county’s judge giving sentencing credits to inmates who were implanted with birth control or had a vasectomy.
The 2017 lawsuit “said White County Sheriff Oddie Shoupe and Judge Sam Benningfield violated the constitution by allowing inmates to get 30 days off a jail term if they agreed to a birth control implant or vasectomy,” the Tennessean reported. “Benningfield was publicly reprimanded for the practice. Tennessee also passed a law banning such deals.”
Further relief may come from pending legislation in Ohio that would prohibit government entities and businesses from requiring vaccination or proof of inoculation.
House Bill 248 said “[n]o person, public official or employee, public agency, state agency, political subdivision, school, child day-care center, nursing home, residential care facility, health care provider, insurer, institution, or employer shall mandate, require, or otherwise request an individual to receive a vaccine.” The only exception is for existing childhood vaccination requirements.
Two other bills would prevent government entities from requiring proof of vaccination to enter buildings and would bar businesses from implementing vaccine mandates. The Ohio legislature reconvenes in September.