Appeals court rules deputies had probable cause to arrest Trumbull commissioner, but sends key questions back to lower court

A federal appeals court ruled that Trumbull County sheriff’s deputies had probable cause to arrest Commissioner Niki Frenchko during a 2022 meeting, overturning a lower court decision that had declared the action unconstitutional. In a decision issued last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit determined that Frenchko’s behavior during the July 7, 2022, meeting gave Sgts. Harold Wix and Robert Ross reasonable grounds to charge her with disrupting a lawful meeting. The three-judge panel found that Frenchko repeatedly interrupted a clerk reading a letter into the record and refused to yield the floor when instructed by the commission chairman. The court concluded that because the officers observed conduct that hindered the progress of the meeting, the arrest