Justice for Tamir Rice Press Conference of November 12 by Black, other clergy against allegedly racist Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty: Article: Cleveland area clergy, led by the Rev Dr. Jawanza Colvin, to hold press conference on November 12 at 11 am at Olivet Church to call for White Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to step aside in the Tamir Rice Cleveland police killing case before the county grand jury for possible criminal charges against police, allegedly for bias, racial intimidation, and harassment of Tamir Rice's grieving Black mother.... Three Cuyahoga County council members join the Cleveland NAACP in calling for grand jury indictments on criminal charges of police and Cleveland Judge Ron Adrine found probable cause for criminal charges that McGinty ignored saying that cops that kill Black people, mainly White ones, cannot be assessed by municipal judges for preliminary felony criminal charges prior to the convening of a grand jury, which is against state law if a criminal complaint is filed by a city prosecutor.... But others, says McGinty, most of them Black, can be be assessed for preliminary felony charges at the municipal level, many of whom are subjected to arrest warrants, and high bonds without even a complete investigation and before a grand jury convenes...This is routinely done by some allegedly corrupt White judges like allegedly racist Shaker Heights Judge K.J. Montgomery, a McGinty ally and alleged drunk who is accused of targeting Blacks and community activists from the bench for the White establishment, police and others, including McGinty....By Cleveland Urban News.Com Editor-in-Chief Kathy Wray Coleman
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| Pictured is Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Tamir Rice during a press conference last month as she and her attorneys called for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to step aside after he hired handpicked experts allegedly to exonerate police from a grand jury indictment on criminal charges. McGinty who is White, pro-police and a former common pleas judge, last week saw fit to publicly attack this grieving Black mother, angering both Blacks and Whites and community activists that want to see justice in the case. A county grand jury is currently hearing the matter for possible criminal charges against the two White Cleveland cops involved in the deadly shooting. |
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| The Rev Dr. Jawanza Colvin, senior pastor at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio |
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| Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty |
Other clergy leading the effort include the Rev. Dr. William Myers of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cleveland, Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood, Ohio, the Rev. Dr. Ken Chalker of University Circle United Methodist Church in Cleveland, and the Rev. Joseph Cherry of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland
Community activists have also called for McGinty, a White Democrat and former common pleas judge and assistant county prosecutor, to be removed and replaced with a special prosecutor in the controversial case that is being watched nationally.
Last month Rice's mother, Samaria Rice, and her attorneys in a pending wrongful death lawsuit, held a press conference and called for McGinty to step aside. They have accused him of bias and prejudice for hiring handpicked experts to purportedly taint the grand jury process in favor of police, bias against the Black community that he routinely does without opposition from Democratic Black leaders and others, sources allege.
Last month Rice's mother, Samaria Rice, and her attorneys in a pending wrongful death lawsuit, held a press conference and called for McGinty to step aside. They have accused him of bias and prejudice for hiring handpicked experts to purportedly taint the grand jury process in favor of police, bias against the Black community that he routinely does without opposition from Democratic Black leaders and others, sources allege.
McGinty is most recently under fire by the greater Cleveland community for racially insensitive comments he made publicly last week in an attack on the still grieving Samaria Rice, who is Black.
“They waited until they didn’t like the reports they received. They’re very interesting people… let me just leave it at that… and they have their own economic motives,” the insensitive McGinty said during a community meeting in Cleveland last Thursday.
Elected officials and Black leaders have also tired of McGinty's shenanigans. Last month the Cleveland NAACP per its new president, local criminal defense attorney Michael Nelson Sr., and Cuyahoga County Councilpersons Dale Miller, Yvonne Conwell, and Anthony Hairston, called for indictments of police involved in the case. Nelson, Hairston and Conwell are Black, and Miller, a former Cleveland city councilman and state legislator, is a liberal, and licensed and astute attorney. (Editor's note: Conwell is the wife of Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, who is also Black).
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| Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery, an alleged drunk who is accused of targeting Blacks and community activists from the bench for the White establishment, police and others with preliminary felony charges without a complete investigation and even an opportunity for the accused to be heard or even contacted. She then issues arrest warrants and high bonds before a county grand jury is even convened to determine if felony charges are applicable. Public records show that Montgomery has allegedly been corrupt for decades and without any criticism by the majority White mainstream media. |
And earlier this year Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ron Adrine, who is also Black, found probable cause for felony criminal charges against the two cops that killed Tamir, including aggravated murder, though McGinty ignored it and has said that cops that kill people, mainly White ones, cannot be assessed by municipal judges for preliminary felony criminal charges prior to the convening of a grand jury. This is though state law explicitly says otherwise if a criminal complaint is brought by city prosecutors at the municipal level. And this is something community activists are also upset with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson over since the probable cause finding by Adrine followed a citizens group court filing for criminal charges against police and not one from his appointed city prosecutor, who is not Black. (Editor's note: Mayor Jackson, the city's three-term Black mayor, has said that McGinty and the county grand jury have the ultimate authority under state law as to felony indictments on criminal charges).
Others accused of felony crimes, said McGinty, most of them Black, can be be assessed for preliminary felony charges at the municipal level before a grand jury convenes and for a possible bind over for grand jury review following a probable cause finding, many of whom are subjected to warrants, and high bonds without even an investigation or an opportunity to be heard. And this is a regular practice by racist judges like Shaker Heights Judge K.J. Montgomery, a Democrat and alleged drunk who is accused of targeting Blacks and community activists for the White establishment, police and others, including McGinty, her longtime ally in malfeasance.
Others accused of felony crimes, said McGinty, most of them Black, can be be assessed for preliminary felony charges at the municipal level before a grand jury convenes and for a possible bind over for grand jury review following a probable cause finding, many of whom are subjected to warrants, and high bonds without even an investigation or an opportunity to be heard. And this is a regular practice by racist judges like Shaker Heights Judge K.J. Montgomery, a Democrat and alleged drunk who is accused of targeting Blacks and community activists for the White establishment, police and others, including McGinty, her longtime ally in malfeasance.
Endorsed by police unions across the state of Ohio and up for reelection next year, McGinty has stacked the deck for the grand jury with handpicked experts to testify that Rice's shooting by Cleveland police was justifiable, an indication of what he is routinely doing against the Black community, sources said yesterday.
Rice, who was Black, was gunned down in less than two seconds when police officers Timothy Loehmann, who pulled the trigger, and Frank Gamback, pulled up at a public park and recreation center on the city's west side where the kid was playing with a toy gun
They were responding to a foiled 9-1-1 call.
They were responding to a foiled 9-1-1 call.
Both police officers are supported by the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, which endorsed McGinty, who retired from the common pleas bench and is serving the third year of a first four- year term as the prosecutor of Cuyahoga County, a Democratic stronghold that is roughly 29 percent Black and the largest of 88 countries in Ohio.
The Black child's quick murder by police has heightened tensions between police and the Black community and follows or precedes other police killings of unarmed Black people in Cleveland and nationwide.
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