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.
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 SaffoldJournalist 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.
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