Charges against former Dubois Prosecuting Attorney dismissed

A federal judge in U.S. District Court in Evansville issued a 43-page decision favoring Mike Fritch on his summary judgment motion in the lawsuit that was filed by then Deputy Prosecutors Debra Schroeder-Dysert and Christine St. John at the end of 2010.

Chief Judge Richard Young in his decision on the entry for summary judgment says that the standard for issuing one must favor the party that did not initiate the motion – in this case, Schroeder-Dysert and St. John.

That means that the harshest scrutiny was given to Fritch’s request for a summary judgment to dismiss all charges against him. Judge Young looked at the material facts in the case and threw out the charges against Fritch by Schroeder-Dysert and St. John.

The only issue that was not dismissed by the judge was the wage claims issue. That remains to be settled at trial.

The judgment says “Fritch repeatedly asked Dysert not to print the employee time records (of then Deputy Prosecutor Kurt Leinenbach) without his presence.” And, that “Dysert, as Chief Deputy Prosecutor, had a duty to respect and abide by the legitimate requests and expectations of her boss, Fritch. Her decision to access employee password protected files over the clear objection of Fritch was not only a breach of Fritch’s trust, but also a breach of the public trust – the public that she swore too serve and protect.”

The judgment also reveals that Schroeder-Dysert and St. John secretly recorded hours of conversations with Fritch on this matter. Fritch contends that ultimately those recorded conversations fully vindicated him because he was truthful all along.

The central issue in the case was that Fritch fired Schroeder-Dysert and eventually St. John after they accessed the time card records of Kurt Leinenbach when they were instructed not to do so. The two claimed that Leinenbach was entering hours into his records that he did not actually work, however, the Indiana State Board of Accounts ultimately found no wrongdoing on Leinenbach’s part.

The judge found that statements made by Fritch in his press release dated February 12, 2010 about the case were true and did not constitute defamation as alleged by the Plaintiffs.

Schroeder-Dysert and St. John do have the right to appeal the ruling by the judge in the case.