Grassroots Organizations Issue Press Release As To Protest Against Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough
Press Release For All Media
Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
The Carl Stokes Brigade, Black on Black Crime Inc., The Oppressed People's Nation and other grassroots organizations will rally on the steps of the Justice Center in Cleveland on Lakeside Ave., Friday, Oct. 23 at 4:00 pm. The protest is to demand that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough dismiss a resisting arrest verdict that came against local freelance journalist Kathy Wray Coleman without the testimony of the arresting deputy sheriff, who is White, and to demand also that applicable cases against defendants be dismissed as required by law if they are denied their constitutional right under the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment to confront their accuser, particularly arresting police officers, bailiffs and deputy sheriffs.
Longtime Community Activist Ada Averyhart, membership chairperson for the Brigade, is the contact person for the event and can be reached at 216-645-0804.
Unless the case is one involving a minor or a domestic violence issue the available accuser by law must testify or the matter must be dismissed. In Coleman's case Keough knew the sole arresting officer was available but did not testify where the all White prosecution bragged at trial that he [Deputy Sheriff Gerald Pace] was "in the hallway but not needed" for testimony, transcripts of trial proceedings reveal.
At trial Keough permitted the prosecution, with the help of Coleman's since removed attorney, Carole A. Lohr, to put on a witness for him. The trio then arranged for the jury to deliberate with the hearsay testimony on behalf of the non-testifying arresting officer, which is illegal under the Ohio Rules of Evidence.
Jurors allegedly said after trial that Keough orchestrated the resisting arrest conviction by feeding them the illegal jury instructions with the support of Cleveland Assistant Prosecutor Lorraine Coyne and Lohr, whom Keough dismissed after trial and before the yet to be held sentencing. Coleman had filed with the Court a list of questionable trial activities by Lohr suggestive of ineffective assistance of counsel and potential malpractice.
“I have never ever seen a person convicted of an alleged offense such as resisting arrest where the defendant was convicted without the testimony of the arresting officer,” said Wayne Kerek, the attorney whom Coleman hired following Lohr's unceremonious departure. “It is possible that a prosecution of this nature could have been motivated by some form of insidious racial animus and the fact that my client writes on matters important to the Black community.”
Coleman called Keough's actions unprecendented and unjust.
"Obviously I would have been exonerated had Deputy Pace testified," said Coleman, who has written articles for Cleveland's Call and Post Newspaper since 1993 and who also is editor of the online magazine The Determiner Weekly. "I find the judge's actions unconscionable and we again call for her immediate resignation from the bench for the betterment of the community, the Black community in particular."
Press Release For All Media
Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009
(Cleveland, Ohio Area News)
The Carl Stokes Brigade, Black on Black Crime Inc., The Oppressed People's Nation and other grassroots organizations will rally on the steps of the Justice Center in Cleveland on Lakeside Ave., Friday, Oct. 23 at 4:00 pm. The protest is to demand that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough dismiss a resisting arrest verdict that came against local freelance journalist Kathy Wray Coleman without the testimony of the arresting deputy sheriff, who is White, and to demand also that applicable cases against defendants be dismissed as required by law if they are denied their constitutional right under the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment to confront their accuser, particularly arresting police officers, bailiffs and deputy sheriffs.
Longtime Community Activist Ada Averyhart, membership chairperson for the Brigade, is the contact person for the event and can be reached at 216-645-0804.
Unless the case is one involving a minor or a domestic violence issue the available accuser by law must testify or the matter must be dismissed. In Coleman's case Keough knew the sole arresting officer was available but did not testify where the all White prosecution bragged at trial that he [Deputy Sheriff Gerald Pace] was "in the hallway but not needed" for testimony, transcripts of trial proceedings reveal.
At trial Keough permitted the prosecution, with the help of Coleman's since removed attorney, Carole A. Lohr, to put on a witness for him. The trio then arranged for the jury to deliberate with the hearsay testimony on behalf of the non-testifying arresting officer, which is illegal under the Ohio Rules of Evidence.
Jurors allegedly said after trial that Keough orchestrated the resisting arrest conviction by feeding them the illegal jury instructions with the support of Cleveland Assistant Prosecutor Lorraine Coyne and Lohr, whom Keough dismissed after trial and before the yet to be held sentencing. Coleman had filed with the Court a list of questionable trial activities by Lohr suggestive of ineffective assistance of counsel and potential malpractice.
“I have never ever seen a person convicted of an alleged offense such as resisting arrest where the defendant was convicted without the testimony of the arresting officer,” said Wayne Kerek, the attorney whom Coleman hired following Lohr's unceremonious departure. “It is possible that a prosecution of this nature could have been motivated by some form of insidious racial animus and the fact that my client writes on matters important to the Black community.”
Coleman called Keough's actions unprecendented and unjust.
"Obviously I would have been exonerated had Deputy Pace testified," said Coleman, who has written articles for Cleveland's Call and Post Newspaper since 1993 and who also is editor of the online magazine The Determiner Weekly. "I find the judge's actions unconscionable and we again call for her immediate resignation from the bench for the betterment of the community, the Black community in particular."
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