Canton Repository: Judge withdraws from Hazel Sidaway's case

Canton Repository
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Judge withdraws from teacher's ethics case
by Paul E. Kostyu

COLUMBUS - The judge scheduled to hear the trial of a former Canton City Schools teacher recused himself from the case because his wife is a teacher.

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge W. Dwayne Maynard was scheduled to begin hearing the case against Hazel Sidaway of 2915 Parkridge Cir. NW in Plain Township on Tuesday.

Now the case will be referred to the court’s administrative judge, who will use a process to randomly assign it to another judge. That was expected to happen within 24 hours of Maynard’s withdrawal.

Sidaway pleaded innocent on July 8 to seven criminal charges accusing her of violating state ethics codes. The charges, all misdemeanors, stem from September 1998 to June 2003, when she was a member of the board of the State Teachers Retirement System. She denies having done anything illegal.

Tuesday’s trial date was the sixth time a date had been set.