An Open Letter To Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson From African-American Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson
Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009
(National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
Dear Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson:
This is to request your support relative to a blatant injustice that sends the message that Blacks, journalists and others can be unfairly prosecuted by the predominantly Black City of Cleveland and convicted of alleged crimes such as resisting arrest without the testimony of an accusing or arresting police officer, deputy sheriff or bailiff, in violation of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. As a Black man and former Cleveland City Council President representing the impoverished Ward 5 you know what it means to be disenfranchised and certainly at 62 years old you are familiar with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's where Blacks and others fought for equal opportunity and equal justice in this country with the leadership of the likes of African-Americans such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall.
As you know, earlier this year I was unjustly convicted of the alleged crime of resisting arrest following a malicious prosecution instituted by the Law Director (Robert Triozzi) that you appointed. This was, of course, in retaliation for an illegal jailing last year in the county where I was harassed over articles in Cleveland' s Call and Post Newspaper, stripped and held naked, given a knockout drug, supervised by a disgruntled male employee and released four days later without charges. The jailing was done by suburban public officials in the City of Lyndhurst including Retired Visiting Lyndhurst Municipal Court Judge Gustalo Nunez. It had nothing to do with Cleveland, though Triozzi, who is White, pursued the charges on behalf of the City of Cleveland as to the arrest itself, knowing that Lyndhurst had dismissed the retaliatory criminal charges there. Your administration has had numerous conversations with certain Black leaders in our community and others on this matter and you know the extent of the injustice surrounding it.
Though I was acquitted of all charges for which I was arrested, I was convicted of resisting arrest even though the sole arresting sheriff deputy, who is White, did not testify at trial and there is no record of any affidavit or report from him as to trial proceedings. He was available in the hallway but not called to testify because his testimony would have exonerated me. Thereafter, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough refused to dismiss the case and sealed the conviction by permitting illegal hearsay testimony on his behalf and feeding that illegal testimony to the jury as evidence via illegal jury instructions and in violation of Evid. R. 801 of the Ohio Rules of Evidence.
Even relative to my favorite book titled “To Kill A Mocking Bird,” which I read in middle school decades ago, the Black man unjustly convicted of allegedly raping a White woman was given the opportunity to confront his accuser at trial via the confrontation clause under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Such mandate is also required via the due process clause under the Fourteenth Amendment. The exception to requiring that the available accuser testify at trial is via cases involving a minor and sometimes relative to domestic violence issues. In my case Deputy Sheriff Gerald Pace was the sole arresting officer, making his testimony even more crucial to the criminal trial proceedings.
Cleveland Municipal Court Reporter Laura Williams has falsified two separate transcripts hoping to interfere with an appeal on this matter, though no appeal should be necessary and the verdict should be dismissed before Judge Keough, who is White, carries out her mission of attempting to sentence me in order to put a mark on my record. How do these unfair White judges in our community get away with harassing innocent Blacks without you and other Black leaders speaking out while the mainstream media target Black female judges only like Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and more recently Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes? Do you find it intersting that Judge Keough can do as she pleases in violation of the law while the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, prefers to target Black women like Judge Stokes while ignoring blatant illegalities on the part of a White judge?
Please step in and voice your objection to this injustice and tell the community that as a Black mayor of a major metropolitan city such as Cleveland, Ohio you demand that all defendants, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion , gender, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status, be allowed their constitutional right to confront the accuser in a criminal proceeding when constitutionally required or the case by law must be dismissed. You are a licensed attorney and we count on you as mayor to set the stage for fairness in criminal trial proceedings where Blacks are disproportionately arrested, charged, prosecuted and sent to prison relative to cases heard in both the Cleveland Municipal Court and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
I thank you for your anticipated support in this matter and best wishes relative to the upcoming mayoral election of November 3, 2009. As you well know I am a journalist of 15 years and I write on matters pertinent to the Black community. I trust that you respect the venue as to the Black media and I hope that you and members of the City of Cleveland's Law Department believe in the document that we know all too well as The Constitution of the United States of America.
Most sincerely,
African-American Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman
xc: The Community
Local Media Including The Plain Dealer and Call and Post Newspapers
Designated Others
Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009
(National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
Dear Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson:
This is to request your support relative to a blatant injustice that sends the message that Blacks, journalists and others can be unfairly prosecuted by the predominantly Black City of Cleveland and convicted of alleged crimes such as resisting arrest without the testimony of an accusing or arresting police officer, deputy sheriff or bailiff, in violation of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. As a Black man and former Cleveland City Council President representing the impoverished Ward 5 you know what it means to be disenfranchised and certainly at 62 years old you are familiar with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's where Blacks and others fought for equal opportunity and equal justice in this country with the leadership of the likes of African-Americans such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall.
As you know, earlier this year I was unjustly convicted of the alleged crime of resisting arrest following a malicious prosecution instituted by the Law Director (Robert Triozzi) that you appointed. This was, of course, in retaliation for an illegal jailing last year in the county where I was harassed over articles in Cleveland' s Call and Post Newspaper, stripped and held naked, given a knockout drug, supervised by a disgruntled male employee and released four days later without charges. The jailing was done by suburban public officials in the City of Lyndhurst including Retired Visiting Lyndhurst Municipal Court Judge Gustalo Nunez. It had nothing to do with Cleveland, though Triozzi, who is White, pursued the charges on behalf of the City of Cleveland as to the arrest itself, knowing that Lyndhurst had dismissed the retaliatory criminal charges there. Your administration has had numerous conversations with certain Black leaders in our community and others on this matter and you know the extent of the injustice surrounding it.
Though I was acquitted of all charges for which I was arrested, I was convicted of resisting arrest even though the sole arresting sheriff deputy, who is White, did not testify at trial and there is no record of any affidavit or report from him as to trial proceedings. He was available in the hallway but not called to testify because his testimony would have exonerated me. Thereafter, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough refused to dismiss the case and sealed the conviction by permitting illegal hearsay testimony on his behalf and feeding that illegal testimony to the jury as evidence via illegal jury instructions and in violation of Evid. R. 801 of the Ohio Rules of Evidence.
Even relative to my favorite book titled “To Kill A Mocking Bird,” which I read in middle school decades ago, the Black man unjustly convicted of allegedly raping a White woman was given the opportunity to confront his accuser at trial via the confrontation clause under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Such mandate is also required via the due process clause under the Fourteenth Amendment. The exception to requiring that the available accuser testify at trial is via cases involving a minor and sometimes relative to domestic violence issues. In my case Deputy Sheriff Gerald Pace was the sole arresting officer, making his testimony even more crucial to the criminal trial proceedings.
Cleveland Municipal Court Reporter Laura Williams has falsified two separate transcripts hoping to interfere with an appeal on this matter, though no appeal should be necessary and the verdict should be dismissed before Judge Keough, who is White, carries out her mission of attempting to sentence me in order to put a mark on my record. How do these unfair White judges in our community get away with harassing innocent Blacks without you and other Black leaders speaking out while the mainstream media target Black female judges only like Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and more recently Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes? Do you find it intersting that Judge Keough can do as she pleases in violation of the law while the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, prefers to target Black women like Judge Stokes while ignoring blatant illegalities on the part of a White judge?
Please step in and voice your objection to this injustice and tell the community that as a Black mayor of a major metropolitan city such as Cleveland, Ohio you demand that all defendants, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion , gender, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status, be allowed their constitutional right to confront the accuser in a criminal proceeding when constitutionally required or the case by law must be dismissed. You are a licensed attorney and we count on you as mayor to set the stage for fairness in criminal trial proceedings where Blacks are disproportionately arrested, charged, prosecuted and sent to prison relative to cases heard in both the Cleveland Municipal Court and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
I thank you for your anticipated support in this matter and best wishes relative to the upcoming mayoral election of November 3, 2009. As you well know I am a journalist of 15 years and I write on matters pertinent to the Black community. I trust that you respect the venue as to the Black media and I hope that you and members of the City of Cleveland's Law Department believe in the document that we know all too well as The Constitution of the United States of America.
Most sincerely,
African-American Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman
xc: The Community
Local Media Including The Plain Dealer and Call and Post Newspapers
Designated Others
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