Trial for suspected East Cleveland serial murderer Michael Madison to begin, activists, Black elected officials to rally against violence against women at 3:30 pm on Sunday January 11 at the intersection of Shaw and Hayden Avenues in East Cleveland where the three victims bodies were found wrapped in plastic bags: Call the Imperial Women Coalition at (216) 659-0473 for more information: By Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news

Suspected serial killer Michael Madison

 From left: Angela Deskins, Shirellda Terry and Shetisha Sheeley, the alleged victims of suspected serial killer Michael Madison 

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist, educator, and 21-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.  (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio-Suspected East Cleveland serial killer Michael Madison will go on trial on Monday, Jan. 12, at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in downtown Cleveland, and community activists will rally against violence against women on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 3:30 pm at the intersection of Shaw and Hayden Avenues in East Cleveland, which is adjacent to where the bodies of the three murdered Black women at issue were found in 2013 wrapped in plastic bags. Call the Imperial Women Coalition at (216) 659-0473 for more information on the rally. (Editor's note: The trial for Madison begins at 9 am on Jan 12 in courtroom 17B, the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Nancy McDonnell)

Organizers said that speakers at the upcoming rally include Black elected officials, namely state Rep Bill Patmon, Cleveland Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, and East Cleveland Councilman Nate Martin, victims and victims family members of violence, community activists, and Black clergy. 

A convicted drug dealer and sex offender who served four years in prison for attempted rape prior to the most recent crimes he is charged with, Madison, 37, and also Black,  is accused of kidnapping and killing Shirellda Terry, 18, Angela Deskins, 38, and Shetisha Sheeley, 28 at the time. He is in jail on a $6 million bond.

Terry's body was found in a garage leased to  Madison on July 19, 2013 at the intersection of Shaw and Hayden Avenues in East Cleveland, and the remains of  Deskins and Sheeley were uncovered the following day in the same vicinity, one in a nearby vacant house, and the other in the backyard.

Missing  persons reports had been filed by the families of all three women, two of whom resided in neighboring Cleveland.

Community activists said that Sunday's upcoming rally is in response to the East Cleveland serial murders, the murders of 11 Black women from 2008 to 2009 on Cleveland's east side on Imperial Avenue at the then home of since convicted serial killer and death row inmate Anthony Sowell,  unsolved murders, and growing concerns of violence against women in general.

Participating activists groups for the rally include the Imperial Women Coalition and the Laura Cowan Foundation, which are the key sponsoring groups, and  Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, the Carl Stokes Brigade, Sister to Sister, Peace in the Hood, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, the Oppressed People's Nation, Revolution Books,  and Black on Black Crime Inc. 

Cuyahoga County
 Court of Common Pleas
Judge Nancy McDonnell

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy McDonnell, who has sparred with anxious county prosecutor Tim McGinty, who angrily told the judge that prosecutors were ready to go forward in November, will preside over the trial, which is expected to last for months in the absence of a timely plea deal.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)