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Straight Release: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied Cleveland State Law Review Volume 48 Issue 2 Article 3 2000 Straight Release: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied Timothy J. McGinty Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev Part of the Criminal Law Commons How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! Recommended Citation Timothy J. McGinty, Straight Release: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied , 48 Clev. St. L. Rev. 235 (2000) available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol48/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cleveland State Law Review by an authorized editor of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “STRAIGHT RELEASE”: JUSTICE DELAYED, JUSTICE DENIED1 THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY J. MCGINTY2 I. THE UNNECESSARY HOMICIDE ............................................ 237 II. THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS .......................................... 239 III. INDICTMENT PROCEDURE IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY .............. 241 IV. ARRAIGNMENTS................................................................... 242 V. NATIONAL URBAN ARREST TO DISPOSITION RATES AND TRENDS ........................................................................ 247 VI. CUYAHOGA COUNTY JAIL.................................................... 251 VII. THE CLEVELAND POLICE “ARREST, RELEASE AND INDICT LATER” PRACTICE.................................................... 253 VIII. CLEVELAND POLICE NARCOTICS UNIT ................................ 256 IX. CMHA POLICE “STRAIGHT RELEASE” PRACTICE ................ 262 X. THE EXCEPTION IS NOW THE RULE: THE MAJORITY OF INDICTMENTS IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY ARE NOW ORIGINAL PRESENTATIONS TO THE GRAND JURY FOLLOWING CPD STRAIGHT RELEASES............................... 263 XI. EFFECT OF POLICE FAILURE TO CONFIRM IDENTITY OF ARRESTED SUSPECT PRIOR TO STRAIGHT RELEASE ............. 264 XII. CHAOS IN CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL COURT.......................... 268 XIII. THE BACKLOGS CAUSED BY CPD’S “STRAIGHT RELEASE” POLICY................................................................ 269 XIV. THE ROLES OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND AND CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICES IN FELONY CASES .................................................................... 272 XV. CUYAHOGA COUNTY GRAND JURY...................................... 278 XVI. SHERIFF’S OFFICE ................................................................ 279 XVII. TWO STUDIES OF FAILURE TO APPEAR RATES AT ARRAIGNMENT..................................................................... 281 A. Study of 459 Randomly Selected 1995 cases ............... 282 B. Analysis of May 21, 1999 Arraignment Room Cases............................................................................ 283 1A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of Master of Judicial Studies in Trial Court Judge’s Major at the University of Nevada, Reno. 2Judge, State of Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County since 1993. B.A., Heidelberg College, 1973; J.D., Cleveland State University, 1981; M.J.S, University of Nevada, Reno, 2000. 235 Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 2000 1 236 CLEVELAND STATE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 48:235 1. Case Study: William Bennett .............................. 286 2. Case Study: David Dylan .................................... 288 3. Case Study: Victor Washington .......................... 289 XVIII. METHODOLOGY AND STATISTICS OF ARRAIGNED CASES IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY ............................................ 292 XIX. TRACKING SYSTEM.............................................................. 294 XX. TIME STANDARDS ................................................................ 295 XXI. COMMON PLEAS COURT PRACTICES THAT ALSO DELAY THE ULTIMATE CASE DISPOSITION RATE................. 298 XXII. SUMMARY............................................................................ 300 XXIII. POSSIBILITY OF REFORM...................................................... 302 XXIV. RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................ 304 POSTSCRIPT.......................................................................... 306 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................... 308 On an average day in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Arraignment Room, half the persons scheduled to appear fail to show-up to answer the felony indictments brought against them. Today, there are some 12,500 felony warrants outstanding for these no-shows. The majority of these are the direct result of the Cleveland Police Department’s arrest, release-without-charge, and indict-later policy. No other city or county in Ohio has such a problem or such a policy. Although the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) has a 24-hour charge- or-release rule, it does not have sufficient detective manpower to charge that quickly, so all but the most serious cases are released to the streets to await charges by mail notice. To make matters worse, CPD regularly releases prisoners before they can be positively identified. The experienced criminals know this, and the use of false names and addresses is a common practice. Some use a new name each time they are arrested and are released again from jail before their fraud is discovered. The Cuyahoga County Grand Jury is so backlogged that it takes several extra months for the low-priority straight-release cases to be indicted. As a result, the CPD Narcotics Unit has a stockpile of over a thousand straight release cases at any one time awaiting indictment. Since suspects often provide police with false addresses or fail to respond to summons, there are often long periods of delay between the indictment, re-arrest, and appearance at arraignment. In the long periods of delay between arrest and arraignment, drug-addicted criminals commonly victimize others, sometimes with tragic results. The unnecessary delays resulting from the straight-release-and-indict-later policies have been a major contributing factor in making Cuyahoga County the slowest county in Ohio for disposing of criminal cases. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol48/iss2/3 2 2000] “STRAIGHT RELEASE” 237 I. THE UNNECESSARY HOMICIDE On June 7, 1999, at approximate 8 p.m., Susan Locke was working alone in her office at the Bond Court Office Building in downtown Cleveland. Struck repeatedly and savagely by a burglar who had taken a baseball bat from another part of the office, Locke died by her desk, her skull crushed. More than a month later, a man was apprehended while burglarizing an office at the Cuyahoga Community College downtown Cleveland campus. Community College Police Officers Linda Corney and Camille Copeland arrested the man, who fought and kicked both officers while spouting gross and abusive language at them. The man provided the false name of Melvin Jackson, along with other incorrect identification.3 In diligently investigating the man,4 Officers Corney and Copeland determined that his real name was Victor Washington. A 31-year-old man with a long history of felony arrests, Washington had just been released in August 1998, after serving an eight-year prison sentence for a variety of burglary, theft, and escape crimes. He repeatedly failed to adapt to probation or rehabilitation programs. Upon learning of Washington’s colorful record, the next day Corney and Copeland passed on their report to a cooperative Assistant City Prosecutor, who issued felony bindover papers for Mr. Washington.5 Even though the case was put on a fast track, indictment CR-380212 for burglary did not occur until August 26, 1999. But twice before the murder, Mr. Washington had briefly been behind Cleveland jail bars, arrested separately for cocaine possession and for assault of a police officer. He was also a named suspect in two March burglaries of St. Vincent Charity 3He later provided Cleveland Police Booking with yet another false name, John Johnson, another address of 9120 E. 93rd, Cleveland, which should have been immediately apparent as an impossible address for any numbered street in Cleveland. This points out the fact that no real effort is made by CPD to ascertain the real identification of even their felony arrestees. Instead of putting the burden of proof on a suspect to prove who he is to police, or not be eligible for a bond hearing or release, the duty appears to have shifted to CPD. The suspect is in effect saying “You prove I’m not who I claim to be and you’ve only got 24 hours to do it.” Many criminals are confident from past experience that CPD will not, as they do not have the time (with CPD’s 24 hour rule), manpower, or experience. If civilians conduct key aspects of the booking procedure, most police believe that it is more likely a false identification will pass muster. 4Officers Corney and Copeland stated they were not about to allow Washington to get away with entering the system with a false name. They spent over an hour interrogating him despite the verbal abuse he was dishing out. They checked each name and Social Security number he provided. Little by little, they extracted enough information until they were able to decipher his true name and record. They even later reviewed the wanted posters in their department and connected Mr. Washington to the Charity Hospital burglaries by the wanted posters CPD Officer Aleck had posted around the area. 5Police are fully aware that the City of Cleveland Prosecutor’s Office operates on a work- avoidance basis. They are looking
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