Prosecutor Mason Secures Extension For Judge McGinty To Respond To Affidavit Of Prejudice In What Attorney For Journalist Calls A Conflict Of Interest

Cyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason
Newly Appointed Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold
Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman














From the Metro Desk of the Determiner Weekly.com and
the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason has secured a 30 day extension for Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty to respond to an affidavit of prejudice filed against him on June 2 by Cleveland area Black Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman for determination by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown.

McGinty is presiding over a lawsuit originally brought by Coleman against the cities of Shaker Hts. and Beachwood, Oh. , retired businesswoman Myrna R. Gill, Beachwood and Shaker Hts. Law Director Margaret Anne Cannon, and a host of other defendants. It alleges malicious prosecution and other claims following a not guilty verdict by a Shaker Hts. jury in 2005 of a misdemeanor charge of telecommunications harassment brought by the city of Beachwood pursuant to a criminal complaint filed by Gill. If the affidavit of prejudice is granted McGinty would be removed from the case and replaced with another judge.

According to the lawsuit, the prosecution was in retaliation for Coleman's community activism and a series of articles on alleged race discrimination in housing against Blacks by Shaker Hts. officials that she wrote that were published in the Cleveland Call and Post Newspaper, a weekly that targets the Black community.

McGinty threw out the lawsuit in 2008, but the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals reinstated it as to Gill last year, of whom Coleman says acted for Cannon and others.

"It is a conflict of interest for Mr. Mason to either lobby for or represent Judge McGinty where he prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of the state of Ohio against Blacks and other defendants that come before this judge, " said Coleman. "We call on the Ohio State Legislature to pass a law that precludes state and municipal prosecutors from representing judges as to affidavits of prejudice and writs of prohibition and mandamus that seek judicial compliance with the law and other authorities, or otherwise, where they have undue influence over judges to demand greater sentences for criminal defendants and other activity since they have the careers of these judges before them in representing them."

Coleman's affidavit of prejudice states, among a host of other alleged violations of the Ohio Judicial Code of Conduct and the Ohio Lawyer's Professional Code of Responsibility, that McGinty harassed her from the onset of the litigation before him. It goes on to allege that he went so far as to set up an illegal arrest of her in 2008 to assist Shaker Hts. and Beachwood officials where the journalist was jailed in the county, given a knockout drug, held naked by a disgruntled male supervisor, and released four days later without charges with the assistance of prominent Cleveland attorney Sara J. Harper, a retired Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals judge. The 16-year journalist claims also that after she won her appeal of his dismissal of the lawsuit McGinty then retaliated upon remand of the case to his docket.

"Obviously the Democratic county prosecutor seeks to influence Democratic Chief Justice Eric Brown since the Chief Justice is now running for the seat against Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O'Connor, " said Coleman. "We expect the same consideration of Judge McGinty, who is White, as was given when then Acting Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Pfiefer granted the affidavit of prejudice filed by the attorneys representing suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell against Cuyahoga Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, who is Black. A denial of the affidavit of prejudice against Judge McGinty would be suspect and illegal, but then again illegalities plague the courts throughout Ohio, particularly where Blacks, women and poor people are concerned."

Coleman, who acted as her own attorney in the litigation up to her successful appeal of the reinstatement of the lawsuit before McGinty, is now represented by Strongsville, Oh. attorney Wayne Kerek. He agrees that Mason's meddling relative to the affidavit of prejudice filed against McGinty is unethical.

"Bill Mason has no business contacting Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown on Judge McGinty's behalf in this matter, or representing him regarding the affidavit of prejudice that I support that was filed on behalf of my client," said Kerek.

Brown was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland in April as Chief Justice, effective May 3. The only Democrat on the seven-member Ohio Supreme Court, he replaced longtime Republican Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, 70, who died unexpectedly on April 2.

McGinty is also under fire from Sowell attorney Rufus Sims for releasing Sowell's confidential mental health records to reporters of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest Newspaper. And, two weeks ago he felt the loss from another appeal when the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by the outspoken judge where he sentenced a Black male criminal defendant to six months in prison in a case no longer before him for an alleged probation violation when the man's probation period was up.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ms. Coleman is a very good writer but her opinions are bias. She Ms.Coleman needs to know her place as a journalist and remain there. Yes you have degrees, but does a degree denote "COMMON SENSE" one would have to ask when listening to what come out of her mouth. You cannot be everywhere all the time, you need to be where your at and be content. Keep up the fine reporting, but stay in your lane, for illegal lane changes are hazards to not only for the one who's doing it but the one who beside you and don't see you coming because you failed you use the proper turn signal. Do the math on that one.

Popular posts from this blog

Former WOIO 19 Action News Anchor in Cleveland Sharon Reed lands new anchor job, her lawyer says rumors about LeBron James fathering her baby are false, had threatened to sue on her behalf, Reed is famous for posing nude for Spenser Tunick's nude group photo shoot

Corrupt and racist University Heights Mayor Susan Infeld is booted from office by voters following claims of spending irregularities of taxpayers money, racism against Black residents, police abuse of Blacks as city safety director, and of running a theft ring of county residents homes via illegal foreclosure activity led by JPMorgan Chase Bank.....University Heights is a Cleveland suburb....Others involved in the theft ring or retaliation against homeowners who complain include corrupt common pleas judges such as Judges John O'Donnell and Carolyn Friedland, Chief County Foreclosure Magistrate and University Heights Resident Stephen Bucha, and his wife, an attorney with the law firm of Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss, who represents corrupt mortgage companies and banks, including JP Morgan Chase Bank... Others involved include racist and corrupt University Hts Police Sgt Dale Orians, former county prosecutor Bill Mason, who is a partner with Bricker and Eckler, which represents JPMorgan Chase Bank, and current County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley, who was Mason's deputy....Drunken Shaker Heights Judge KJ Montgomery, who also hears criminal cases for University Hts, has Blacks illegally prosecuted who complain of the theft of their homes, as does O'Malley..... Judge Montgomery is top in issuing excessive and illegal warrants against the Black community....All of the aforementioned are corrupt and activists want them indicted and prosecuted....This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Chief and unfair Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo loses authority-Part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption: New Ohio law on seeking possible removal of a municipal court judge in a case for bias or conflict via the filing of an affidavit of prejudice takes authority to decide from chief Cuyahoga County Presiding Judge John Russo, other chief common pleas judges in Ohio, and hands it to the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, who also determines affidavits of prejudice filed against common pleas, probate, juvenile, domestic relations, and state appellate court judges....Most affidavits of prejudice are denied regardless of the merits and some judges complained of will retaliate, data show... Community activists, led by Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman of the Imperial Women Coalition, lobbied the Cleveland NAACP for support and asked state legislators via state Rep Bill Patmon (D-10) of Cleveland to change the law but wanted a panel of judges and others to decide when a judge in Ohio is disqualified from hearing a case for bias or conflict....Coleman says she has since been further harassed by Chief Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo, who is White and leads a racist and sexist common pleas court fueled with corruption, malicious prosecutions, excessive criminal bonds, ineffective assistance of counsel to poor and Black defendants, and the mass incarceration of the Black community....By www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers....This is part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption