An attorney representing Youngstown Police officer Thomas Wisener says Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin was unreasonable for handing Wisener a ten-day jail sentence for not wearing a mask in her courtroom.

A brief filed in the Seventh District Court of Appeals by the Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association says Judge Baldwin was wrong to find Wisener in contempt and interfered with his religious beliefs when he refused to wear a face covering during a February 22 hearing.

“The court didn’t make a finding of how Wisner actually interfered or disrupted a court hearing”, says Daniel Leffler in his brief filed on behalf of Wisener.

The court mask mandate was lifted six days after Wisnener’s alleged infraction, according to Leffler.

Leffler wants the contempt finding overturned, or Wisener’s jail term reduced.

Wisener filed an appeal after Judge Baldwin found him guilty, sentenced him to jail, and fined him $250.

Wisener was booked into the Mahoning County jail but was soon ordered to be released pending his appeal.

Representing the city in the case, attorney John Juhasz said in an earlier brief that Wisener's claim that his objection to wearing a mask was based on a religious belief was "devoid of any effort" by Wisener to seek a religious exemption from the court's mask order.

It is not known when the appeals court will rule on Wisener’s appeal