An Ohio township's last-ditch legal move to avoid paying a $45 million settlement to a wrongfully imprisoned man failed.
TheU.S. Supreme Courton Jan. 26 denied a request from Miami Township in Montgomery County fora writ of certiorari– an order telling a lower court to review its previous decision.
Ohioan Dean Gillispie won a$45 million civil settlementagainst Miami Township but the township says paying the tab could force it into bankruptcy. The township's annual budget is $20 million.
Gillispie, 60, of Fairborn,won the judgment in 2022in a federal lawsuit he lodged against the township and its former detective, Matthew Scott Moore. Since the jury decision in 2022, the township has been accruing interest on the unpaid settlement.
The township appealed and in May 2025, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Gillispie and declined to lower the amount. The township then turned to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Ohio Township Association and Ohio Chamber of Commerce filed briefs supporting Miami Township. In its brief, the state chamber argued that unpredictable monetary judgments against local governments could lead to widespread financial instability.
David B. Owens, who represents Gillispie, said in a written statement that Miami Township has prolonged Gillispie's suffering through "dubious legal maneuvers and absurd appeals." It's time for the township to pay the judgment, he said.
Advertisement
Miami Township said in a written statement that it will continue to try to resolve the issue in a manner that preserves services to local residents. While the judgment is against a former employee, the township is at risk of having to hold the former police detective harmless and pay the $45 million, the statement said.
Who is Dean Gillispie?
Gillispie was wrongfully convicted in 1991 in the rape and kidnapping of twin sisters in one attack and a third woman in a second attack. But the jury in the federal civil lawsuit found that Moore violated Gillispie's rights by hiding evidence that would have helped Gillispie's defense and creating unfair lineup procedures for the victims.
No biological evidence ever tied Gillispie to the crimes.
Gillispie was released from prison in 2011, exonerated in 2017 and declared wrongfully imprisoned in 2021. TheOhio Innocence Projectat the University of Cincinnati law school, former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro and Gillispie's mother, Juana Gillispie, worked to free him and clear his name.
While imprisoned, Gillispie turned to art across multiple mediums. It was an outlet for his pain and imagination of how life would've been different. In 2020, his artwork depicting a miniature model camping trailer was included in "Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration," an exhibit at theMuseum of Modern Art in New York City.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch:Supreme Court denies attempt to avoid paying Ohio man Dean Gillispie