(ReliableNews.org) – Kentucky resident 55-year-old James Toothman is legally blind. His disability hasn’t stopped him from encounters with law enforcement. Police recently arrested him, but this time, he dodged the courts — again.
On November 5, the Cheviot Police Department and firefighters responded to a home after receiving a call about an unresponsive person. When first responders arrived on the scene, they found a woman face down on a sofa in the living room. They transported the woman, later identified as 65-year-old Jeni Boese (also known as Jeni Russell), to Mercy West Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Doctors were unable to do anything to help her and pronounced her dead.
Police officers at the home heard Toothman make a comment blaming himself for Boese’s death because he allegedly sat on her head. A nurse reportedly heard him make a similar comment at the hospital.
An investigator working for the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office later said Boese suffered a broken neck. Law enforcement officials arrested Toothman and accused him of intentionally causing the injury.
On November 6, a grand jury heard the facts of the case and declined to return an indictment against Toothman. Hamilton County Prosecutor Amy Clausing issued a statement to the press saying the grand jury “ignored” the case. She said the matter was still under investigation, and the prosecution could still choose to refile the charges down the road.
A judge originally set Toothman’s bond at $1 million, but authorities released him after the grand jury failed to indict him.
Reports indicate Toothman and Boese lived together. They were a couple for a long time and both had previous charges of domestic violence on their records. Police arrested Toothman on charges in 2018, 2019, and 2021. In the 2018 arrest, Toothman reportedly pushed the victim to the ground and tried to smother her with a mattress. However, Boese failed to cooperate after each of those arrests, and prosecutors were forced to drop the charges.
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