The firing of a Cincinnati police officer involved in the death of a suspect could stand if a Tuesday court ruling survives appeal. Officer Patrick Caton was fired two years ago for his involvement in the death of Roger Owensby Jr., who suffocated in police custody. After an arbitrator ordered the city last year to reinstate him, the city appealed. A judge ruled in the city's favor Tuesday, saying Caton can be fired because the city's contract with the police union allows firings for "just cause." Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ethna Cooper based her decision on a fellow judge's ruling in another case, that of Officer Victor Spellen. He also was fired in February 2003, for lying during the investigation of Owensby's death. The city won that appeal, too, but Spellen has since appealed to the First District Court of Appeals. Caton will appeal also, said Sgt. Harry Roberts, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, which is paying Caton's legal fees. "She (Cooper) didn't really make her own decision," Roberts said. "She based it on the prior ruling, which we also think is wrong." Caton, 39, was acquitted of misdemeanor assault in Owensby's death. In 2002, while awaiting the outcome of the internal investigation into Owensby's death, Caton was suspended again for using a racial slur picked up on his cruiser's recorder. Roger Owensby Jr. died in 2000 of mechanical asphyxiation in the parking lot of a Roselawn gas station. The Hamilton County Coroner ruled the death a homicide, saying the asphyxiation could have been caused when former Cincinnati Police Officer Robert Jorg placed him in a choke hold or by the weight of Officers Caton and Jorg subduing him. A jury acquitted Caton of assaulting Owensby Jr., although two officers testified they saw him hit Owensby Jr. after he was handcuffed. A jury acquitted Jorg of assault, but deadlocked on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. [more] and [more] and [more]