Description
the murder of Jeff Zack in 2001 coverage of the trials of Cynthia George and John Zaffino.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
In the five months since she was released from prison, Cindy George has left her palatial home to go to Mass, meet a few times with girlfriends and attend her daughter's high school graduation, her lawyer said.
She will remain in self-imposed seclusion despite the Ohio Supreme Court's decision Wednesday not to review the reversal of her conviction for plotting with one lover to kill another, the lawyer said.
That ruling closes the case.
"She was very happy but wants to be able to have life calm down for the kids and the rest of the family," said her attorney Bradley Barbin. "You need a low profile for that."
George, 53, who faced national media scrutiny during her murder trial and release, will not sue the Summit County prosecutor's office for wrongful prosecution, Barbin said.
"There is not a mean bone in her body," he said. "People really never got the untold story of Cindy George."
In a written statement, George said, "With this decision and the closure it provides, it is time that we as a family move forward with our lives."
Prosecutors, who maintain George plotted with lover John Zaffino to kill her former lover Jeff Zack, are disappointed George is free.
"The justice system was created with appellate rights and this office respects the legal system and therefore, accepts the decision of the Supreme Court," Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said in a statement.
Zack, 44, of Stow, was fatally shot in the face on June 16, 2001, as he sat in his sport utility vehicle at a gas pump. Witnesses saw a motorcycle and driver with his face obscured by a dark helmet leaving the scene.
Zaffino, 40, was arrested about a year later. He was convicted of murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison. All appeals have failed.
George was arrested in January 2005.
She did not testify in her trial before Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove. Cosgrove ruled that George was guilty of complicity to commit aggravated murder and sentenced her to life in prison without a chance of parole for 23 years.
George served 16 months before she was released March 22 after the 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled that the circumstantial evidence presented by prosecutors, including telephone records, letters and financial documents, was not sufficient to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
George's husband, Ed, and their seven children have provided unwavering support, Barbin said.
She has remained sequestered in her Medina County home by choice, preferring to spend time with her children, he said. She has undergone counseling.
"She has a very strong faith and believes in her family," Barbin said. "And she wants to thank all the people who were willing to support her despite those who rushed to judgment and found it so easy to kick someone when they are down."
