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As if the case of the morgue photos could not be more bizarre, it ended with a prosecutor’s chilling warning that a defense witness will be “dealt with.”
The conviction of photographer Thomas Condon on eight counts of gross abuse of a corpse and assistant coroner Dr. Jonathan Tobias, on two counts, came in a two-week trial that touched on courthouse politics as well as art. Michael Helton, a clerk in the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Office, might soon find out how the game works.
Helton testified he copied photos of corpses that had been filed as evidence and showed them to two or three people at River Downs race track. By then the existence of the photos — shot by Condon, allegedly with illicit help from Tobias — had already been made public. The photos themselves, returned from a search warrant and left unsealed, were matters of public record.
“It’s an open warrant,” Helton said. “It’s public record.”
Ohio law requires public records be given to citizens who request them.
“I don’t believe I have the right to pick and choose who gets to see it,” Helton said.
But public-records law seemed to have escaped Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Longano. In closing arguments, he referred to Helton as a “goofy clerk.” He told the jury Helton will be “dealt with” through administrative procedures and will “pay for” his actions.
Helton wasn’t on trial, but his actions show who the real culprit is, according to defense lawyers. By leaving the photos unsealed, police and prosecutors — not the defendants — caused them to be circulated.
Prosecutor’s potty mouth
The two-week trial went to the jury Oct. 12. The prosecution finished closing arguments by trying to convince the jury the photos had some sexual meaning. Assistant Prosecutor Gwen Binder called the act of posing the corpses a “vile, disgusting striptease.” Longano showed the jury death-scene photos of a woman whose shirt was lifted up and buttocks exposed.
“To refer to this bullshit project as art is an insult to you, to the victims,” Longano said. “Do you see any of this garbage in your homes?”
For Ronald Melton, the brother of a man whose body Condon photographed, the experience was not about artistic merit, but pain.
“I’ll never understand it,” Melton testified. “He was not a work of art.”
Melton said the photos violated his brother’s dignity; he died in an industrial accident.
“My brother was ripped apart,” he said. “I don’t want my brother’s pictures out there for anyone, especially in that state. I go in a cemetery and I’m cautious not to step on a grave. It’s just our society and our way of thinking.”
But if the photos are disgusting, prosecutors should blame County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrott, according to Condon’s attorney, Louis Sirkin. It was Parrott who gave Condon access to the morgue, Sirkin said.
Marc Mezibov, Tobias’ attorney, described the situation as a classic case of passing the buck. Instead of holding Parrott accountable, Mezibov argued, prosecutors targeted Tobias, who “was the last to know and the first to go” in the coroner’s office.
Debunking the prosecution’s theory that the two worked in concert on the art project, Mezibov argued one of the bodies in the photos left the morgue before Tobias even met Condon.
Witness says coroner knew
But the defense did not let the prosecution’s characterization of the photos as “garbage” go unchallenged. Cal Kowal, a professor of fine art photography, testified human corpses have been the subject of photos since the beginning of photography in 1839. Photos of the dead are an area of interest in contemporary art, according to Kowal, who cited photographers Andres Serrano and Joel-Peter Witkin.
Sirkin said Condon meant no harm.
“What he was attempting to do was make meaning out of life and to make meaning out of an afterlife,” Sirkin said.
In a search of Condon’s studio, police found a list of symbols to be used in the photos and their intended meanings.
Ernie Waits, a local producer, testified Condon was interested in doing his project to lessen the impact of death on people. Waits had an interest in creating videos that would make death easier for children to understand.
Waits said he was present when Condon handed Parrott material with examples of similar photos. He testified Parrott said he was familiar with the material.
Waits said the coroner’s office told him and Condon there would be very specific things to be mindful of when working on their projects. There could be no scars, tattoos or identifying facial features in the work, and the coroner’s office would have the right of refusal prior to publication.
But Condon’s photos, according to Waits, would have to be processed before that approval could take place.
“You can’t approve a roll of film,” he said.
Waits said Condon offered to do an autopsy video for the coroner’s office in return for permission to do his project.
“There was never an occasion when Mr. Condon did not talk about his project when the coroner’s office staff was available to listen,” he said.
The doctor who oversees pathology residents at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine testified in Tobias’ favor, saying he got outstanding evaluations.
“Dr. Tobias is extremely highly regarded by our faculty,” said Dr. Cecilia Fenoglio-Preiser. “I have the highest regard for Dr. Tobias. We’re looking forward to him returning.”
Whether Tobias returns is now in question. Judge Norbert Nadel scheduled sentencing for both men for Dec. 13. Condon faces eight years in prison and Tobias could get two years. ©
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2001.