Robert L. Gresham, Esq., Wright & Schulte, LLC

05/28/2026

Today we announced the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of Martonio Wilder.

Martonio was 8 years old. He should be alive.

This case is not about replacing the criminal prosecution. The criminal case addressed what happened inside the home. This civil case asks what happened outside the home: who was responsible for seeing Martonio, who failed to verify his safety, who supervised that work, and why records allegedly created the appearance that child-safety work happened when it did not.

A false record in a child-welfare case is not a paperwork problem. It can be the thing that keeps a child invisible.

Martonio deserved protection while he was alive. His family deserves answers now.

05/28/2026

Today we announced the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of Martonio Wilder.

Martonio was 8 years old. He should be alive.
This case is not about replacing the criminal prosecution. The criminal case addressed what happened inside the home. This civil case asks what happened outside the home: who was responsible for seeing Martonio, who failed to verify his safety, who supervised that work, and why records allegedly created the appearance that child-safety work happened when it did not.

A false record in a child-welfare case is not a paperwork problem. It can be the thing that keeps a child invisible.

Martonio deserved protection while he was alive. His family deserves answers now.

WrongfulDeat

05/14/2026

Today is Donovan Lewis’ birthday.

Over the course of representing his family, I’ve spent time with people who loved him deeply, his mother, his loved ones, the people still carrying the weight of his absence every single day. And today more than anything I find myself thinking about the life moments that were stolen along with him.

I think about the son Donovan never got to meet. A child who will only know him through stories, photographs, memories, and the voices of the people fighting for his memory.

While this case continues, birthdays and holidays like today seem to simultaneously highlight and put the legal case in the background. They force you to sit with what was actually taken from a family.

Donovan should be here celebrating another year of life. His family should have that chance. His son should have had that chance.

Happy Birthday, Donovan.

05/13/2026

At about 0:26 in this clip, the officer says: “Why would that guy stop at a yellow light?”

This past Friday we filed suit on behalf of Bridgett McKinnon against the City of Columbus and Officer Kurt Jacobs. The complaint alleges the cruiser entered a signalized intersection without lights or siren and caused a collision that left Bridgett with catastrophic traumatic brain injury and lifelong disability.

This is a short excerpt. The full case will be proven through the evidence—video, vehicle data, dispatch records, and policy compliance.

05/12/2026

There is always a public promise of “accountability” when police misconduct is discussed.

But when accountability actually arrives, too often the response is outrage, deflection, and dehumanization.

This conversation is bigger than one officer. Bigger than one verdict. Bigger than one insult.

It is about whether Black grief is treated as fully human when police violence enters the conversation.

Families like those of Casey Goodson and Donovan Lewis should not have to fight both for justice and for the basic recognition of their loved ones’ humanity.

My thoughts in The Columbus Dispatch examine what recent rhetoric from the Columbus police union leadership reveals about the deeper culture surrounding police accountability.

Read the full piece here:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2026/05/11/jason-meade-casey-goodson-poverty-pimp-columbus-fop/89996447007/

FOP President Brian Steel's "poverty pimp" rant demonstrates why Black people think twice before calling the police for "help."

05/11/2026

There is always a public promise of “accountability” when police misconduct is discussed.

But when accountability actually arrives, too often the response is outrage, deflection, and dehumanization.

This conversation is bigger than one officer. Bigger than one verdict. Bigger than one insult.

It is about whether Black grief is treated as fully human when police violence enters the conversation.

Families like those of Casey Goodson and Donovan Lewis should not have to fight both for justice and for the basic recognition of their loved ones’ humanity.

My latest piece in The Columbus Dispatch examines what recent rhetoric from the Columbus police union leadership reveals about the deeper culture surrounding police accountability.

Read the full piece here:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2026/05/11/jason-meade-casey-goodson-poverty-pimp-columbus-fop/89996447007/

CaseyGoodson DonovanLewis BlackLivesMatter

05/07/2026

The closings in the Jason Meade trial were a direct clash: the State said physical evidence destroys Meade’s self-defense story; the defense said the State distorted everything with hindsight and selective framing. But officer perspective is not a magic wand. It does not erase contradictions, and it does not beat physical evidence.

04/30/2026

The Supreme Court’s Callais decision is not just about one map in Louisiana. It is about a bigger pattern.

When race is named openly to confront exclusion, this Court acts outraged. When exclusion survives through words like “politics,” “security,” or “neutral criteria,” the Court suddenly finds restraint.

That is not consistency. That is not honesty. And it is not justice.

Callais made it harder to use the Voting Rights Act to protect minority voting power. People need to understand exactly what that means and who pays the price.

04/28/2026

A grieving mother hugged her grieving daughter after emotional testimony in the Jason Meade trial, and defense counsel objected. That moment says more than they probably intended. Casey Goodson is being reduced to a police narrative, and even his family’s humanity is treated like something to suppress if it gets too visible. That is not fairness. That is dehumanization