SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Ramesh Patel was charged this week with illegal voting in several previous elections in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. But it will be difficult to bring him to trial. Mr. Patel died December 2022. Ramesh Patel was one of six legal noncitizens whose indictments were presented to the Ohio attorney general. But county prosecutor Michael O'Malley told the USA Today Network Ohio Bureau, the practice of indicting the deceased is draconian. This is not how we would have handled this case in my office.
The indictment of someone who is deceased does pose some practical questions. How do you put someone on trial when they're no longer around? How do you put together a jury of peers to hear Mr. Patel's case when the defendant is departed? Wouldn't at least a few of the jurors have to be departed, too? And even if the late Ramesh Patel were to be convicted, what kind of penalty is there for someone who is already deceased?
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