COLUMBUS, Ohio — The case against a former Worthington Christian High School basketball coach, accused of sex crimes against his former players, will be dismissed.
Jason Dawson was found dead on Wednesday after a suspected suicide, according to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office.
Police said Dawson had sex with two players on his basketball team when they were minors.
He resigned in 2022 and was arrested in North Carolina in March.
Dawson was charged with 10 counts of sexual battery and was federally charged last week with sexual exploitation of a minor and distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography.
Now the alleged victims will not have the opportunity to face him in court.
“I am hoping in a situation like this one, we are seeing survivors can find another way to feel that sense of justice or it really can impede people's abilities to live their lives and move forward,” said Taylr Ucker-Lauderman, chief engagement officer at Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.
Ucker-Lauderman explained victims can find justice in other ways, such as by filing civil suits or applying for crime victim compensation. She said in situations like this, it is important victims have continued access to support.
“I have known several survivors who felt like they couldn’t speak their truth anymore after the perpetrator passed away because there are social and cultural norms that you can’t speak ill of the dead, and so that puts pressures on survivors to feel like they have to be silent about what happened to them and I don’t think that is the case. I think survivors need to be able to heal and access services even if the perpetrator has not and might never be held accountable,” she said.
Dawson was on safety watch at his last scheduled court date, but mental health is often not considered when setting bond, according to Brad Koffel, a Columbus-based criminal defense attorney.
“I’m not sure how they would take into account an inmate’s mental health. There is no screening when they bring someone into a jail. The jail processes them but they don’t do mental health screening and they have a court date and there is no addressing whether an inmate might be suicidal,” Koffel said.
Koffel said in his experience, defendants in sex crime cases are at a higher risk of suicide. He said he loses one to three clients each year to suicide.
“One of the very first things we do is when we get a call from family of someone who is being accused of a heinous crime like this, we do what we can with our limited expertise, what we can to screen them and 100 percent of the time we refer that man out to a psychologist or therapist to get them help,” Koffel said.
A Franklin County judge said they often don’t have access to an inmate’s mental health history when setting bond, but mental health evaluations could be included in bond conditions.
Koffel said that is rare in Franklin County.
“Knowing these are higher risk of suicides does it make more sense to keep them incarcerated, I don’t know how you can do that because pre-trial detentions don’t happen in state court like they do in federal court. So I think the courts do the best they can with the info and resources in front of them,” he said.
Editor's Note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.