Frank Joseph Battisti ( October 4 , 1922 – October 19 , 1994 ) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio . Battisti 's career featured groundbreaking — and sometimes controversial — rulings , notably his finding in 1976 that the Cleveland public school system was guilty of racial segregation . Two years earlier , in 1974 , he dismissed a case against eight members of the Ohio Army National Guard accused of violating the civil rights of four Kent State University students who were shot dead in 1970 . In the 1980s , he presided over a high-profile case involving Cleveland , Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk , who was deported amid charges that he committed war crimes in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe . During his decades as a jurist , Battisti was honored by various professional and civic organizations , but he was also a target of criticism
shot dead in 1970
Kent State shootings
Frank J. Battisti