Activists urge voters to vote Andrew Santoli judge of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas on May 8 over attorney William McGinty, McGinty accused of misrepresenting indigent Blacks falsely accused of assault on White cops, and his law firm, and law partner, Henry Hilow, represent the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and Cleveland cops that gun down unarmed Black people like Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell....No Blacks are in this judicial race and William McGinty is no relation to ousted former county prosecutor Tim McGinty.... Santoli is also endorsed by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, a wealth of labor unions and a host of elected officials....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.
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| Andrew Santoli |
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio-A group of Cleveland community activists is urging Cuyahoga County voters to vote yes to judicial candidate Andrew Santoli and no to his opponent, criminal defense attorney William McGinty in the May 8 primary election ballot for judge for an open seat on the the 34- member general division common pleas court of Cuyahoga County, a county that includes the largely Black city of Cleveland.
Santoli has the endorsement of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who is Black and leads Ohio's majority Black 1th congressional district, and a wealth of labor unions, elected officials and powerful Democrats
He is easy going, and has a contagious smile, and he talks like he wants to make things right, if prosecutors can win Blacks and others who question whether they can effectively make the transition from prosecutor to an impartial jurist.
"We need judges who recognize the unique challenges facing the criminal justice system, judges that are fair, just, empathetic" Santoli said at his campaign website of at andrewsantoli.com "Help me bring the experience we need to our criminal justice system."
William McGinty, who is of no relation to ousted and former county prosecutor Tim McGinty, is under fire by community activists and is accused of misrepresenting indigent Blacks falsely accused of assault on White cops, and his law firm of which represents the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and Cleveland cops that gun down unarmed Black people.
A Democrat, Santoli seeks election to the term commencing Jan 3, 2019 in a two-way race and the winner will face Republican Lorraine Coyne, an assistant Cleveland city prosecutor accused of maliciously prosecuting Blacks for corrupt judges and city officials, in the November gnereal election.
No Black took out petitions in this judicial racet.
"We have studied this judicial race and urge voters to vote for Andrew Santoli for a seat on the common pleas bench instead of his two anti-Black and anti-Democratic opponents, William McGinty and Lorraine Coyne, whom we believe are both unqualified and have both undermined the Black community," said community activist Kathy Wray Coleman, a leader of the grassroots group Imperial Women Coalition and a former, 14-year public school biology teacher and Call and Post Newspaper reporter who now edits Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and its most read blog.
Among several races for office this year, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is overseeing 12 general division common pleas court judicial races, two of them judges running unopposed of Judges Tim McComick and Cassandra Collier- Williams, one of two Blacks on the common pleas court.
They are six-year common pleas court terms in Cuyahoga, the state's second largest county of 88 counties statewide, a county that is roughly 29 percent Black, and a Democratic stronghold.
Other races for the May 8 primary include congressional races and the U.S Senate race, judge-ships on the juvenile court bench of Cuyahoga County, and seats in the 8th District Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court, and other statewide races, including for governor, as well as races for the state senate and house of representatives, and Cuyahoga County Council.
This is coupled with outright misrepresentation across the board in some cases of Blacks facing criminal charges in the common pleas court, which hears felonies, lawsuits with damages sought above $15,000, and a host of other legal matters.
Just last week McGinty's law partner, Henry Hilow, made news in rejecting an offer of dismissal of charges by the city of East Cleveland to his clients, five White Cleveland police supervisors prosecuted for failing to control a 22-mile chase that led to the 137 shots shooting deaths in 2012 of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell by 13- non Black Cleveland cops.
Activists are calling for a municipal court trial for the police supervisors "before a duly impaneled jury of their peers."
Activists are calling for a municipal court trial for the police supervisors "before a duly impaneled jury of their peers."
The supervisors, Randolph Dailey, Patricia Coleman, Michael Donegan, Jason Edens and Paul Wilson, who were indicted in 2014 by a Cuyahoga County grand jury for failure to control, face a single misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty, the case ultimately transferred form Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to East Cleveland Municipal Court
The charge is a second degree misdemeanor and the supervisors face a possible 90 days in jail, and $750 fine.
Hilow called the city's offer of dismissal in exchange for restitution extortion and said prosecutors should either dismiss the case or proceed to trial.
Williams, 30, and Russell, 43, both homeless and struggling with drug addiction, were gunned down on November 29, 2012 by 13 non-Black Cleveland cops slinging 137 bullets following a high speed car chase from downtown Cleveland to Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland, a largely Black impoverished suburb of Cleveland.
Police claim Russell's car backfired and it was mistaken as a shot at police, a scheme, say community activists, to avoid prosecution and to escape accountability for one of Cleveland's most notorious excessive force atrocities.
Police claim Russell's car backfired and it was mistaken as a shot at police, a scheme, say community activists, to avoid prosecution and to escape accountability for one of Cleveland's most notorious excessive force atrocities.
Last year an arbitrator handed five of the six officers directly involved in the shooting who were fired relative to the incident their jobs back.
A sixth Cleveland police officer, Michael Brelo, whom Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell acquitted of affiliated voluntary manslaughter charges in May 2015 following a bench trial, should not be reinstated, the arbitrator ruled.
Brelo was exceptionally callus and shot 49 of the 137 bullets into the windshield of the car Russell had been driving while stationed on the hood of the car, including a 15-round volley.
Russell's 1979 Malibu Classic was cornered and stationary at Heritage school when 137 shots were fired by the Cleveland cops, the duo dying at the scene of an incident that has heightened racial unrest in Cleveland and East Cleveland regarding excessive force by police and what activists say is a lack of adequate redress for the victims families and the Black community.
The city of Cleveland, which settled a wrongful death lawsuits with families of the victims for $3 million, is currently under a court-monitored consent decree for police reforms with the U.S. Department of Justice.
.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. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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