Cleveland activists picket at City Hall against six recent Cuyahoga County Jail deaths, unfair sentencing by the judges, juveniles tried as adults and illegally convicted, mass incarceration, injustice relative to Peter Kenney Jr., and police, judicial and prosecutorial malfeasance, a rally led by Black on Black Crime Inc....Activist Alfred Porter Jr. called out Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley and Common Pleas Judge Nancy Fuerst for alleged malfeasance and alleged racism, and for allegedly pushing malicious and illegal prosecutions for corrupt and racist White cops against Blacks, women and community activists, and said that police do as they please to Blacks in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and without repercussions...Porter also talked about the six recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County Jail that have precipitated an urgent FBI investigation, investigators saying two of the deaths were suicides, two were from drug overdoses, and another two are still under investigation.....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of 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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| Cleveland activists picket outside of Cleveland City Hall on Nov 9 against six recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County jail, unfair sentences by judges, mass incarceration and judicial, prosecutorial and police malfeasance. They also said they want parole, jail and prison reform and the release of Peter Kenney Jr from prison. Kenney was convicted as a juvenile of aggravated murder in 2001 and has spent 17 years in prison. His family and attorneys say he is innocent and was denied a fair trial. He has lost all of his appeals |
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-A group of Cleveland activists, led by Black on Black Crime Inc, protested outside of Cleveland City Hall on Nov. 9 against the recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County jail, unfair sentences by the largely White judges of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, mass incarceration and judicial. prosecutorial and police malfeasance.
Activists said they also want jail, prison and parole reform, and they blame the judges, led by Chief Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo, as well as Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and his administration and County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley. among others, for the six recent deaths in the county jail.
Judges are overcrowding the jail with low level offenders and with people who should be out on bond or do not belong there anyway, data show, O'Malley is overcrowding the jail with maliciously prosecuted people, mainly Blacks, and Budish and his jail administrators are simply incompetent, activists say.
Speakers at the protest included Black on Black Crime Inc President Alfred Porter Jr, activist Don Bryant, activists Cheryl Lessin, Norm Carr and Brenda Adrine of Refusefacism.org,.and the family of Peter Kenney Jr, who is White and has served 17 years in prison via a conviction as a juvenile.
Kenney was tried as an adult and convicted by a Cuyahoga County jury in 2001 of shooting and killing Terrence Robinson, who was Black, during a crack-induced rampage.
He was convicted of one count of aggravated murder with a firearm specification and one count of kidnapping with a firearm specification and sentenced to what amounts to a life sentence thus far.
A witness at trial said Kenney said he 'killed the little nigger' but his family and attorneys say that is a lie and that he is innocent and was denied a fair trial with the help of ineffective indigent counsel.
Public records say a prison inmate told authorities a man involved in Robinson's murder gives a different account that prosecutors are trying to cover-up.
Kenney has lost all of his appeals but his family members say they are in it for the long haul.
Public records show that Cuyahoga County prosecutors are often corrupt to the bone, and so are several of the largely White 34 judges of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
Indictment fixing by the prosecutor's office with the help of the Clerk of Courts office is routine, and so is case fixing by prosecutors, judges and attorneys.
Too many young people, most of them Black, are prosecuted as adults and the sentences often do not fit the crimes, activists said. And indigent juveniles and adults, say community activists, are often denied effective assistance of counsel, which results in convictions of innocent people.
Activist Alfred Porter Jr. called out Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley and Common Pleas Judge Nancy Fuerst for alleged malfeasance and alleged racism, and for allegedly pushing malicious and illegal prosecutions for corrupt and racist White cops against Blacks, women and community activists.
Porter said that police do as they please to Blacks in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and without repercussions.
Porter also talked about the six recent deaths in the Cuyahoga County Jail that have precipitated an urgent FBI investigation, investigators saying two of the deaths were suicides, two were from drug overdoses, and another two are still under investigation
Activists chanted 'the parole board has got to go,' among other chants.
Activists said they are preparing for a larger protest in front of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, which is down the street from City Hall on Lakeside Ave.
Activists say the prison and jail systems in Ohio have become a money enterprise with excessive bonds and disproportionate and unfair sentencing against poor people and Blacks and other minorities by unfair largely White judges who do as they please.
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Ohio incarcerates roughly 50,440 people at an average cost of $67.84 per inmate per day.
Community corrections programs receive roughly $23 per day from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Ohio spends over 1.2 billion annually in prison expenditures, data show.
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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