This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a twice monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters.
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court ends contract with youth care center
A Marshall Project - Cleveland investigation found that the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court provides little oversight of youth care centers where the court sends children as an alternative to detention centers or youth prisons.
The court wanted safer settings and a better path forward for kids when it started sending kids to youth care centers in 2022. However, The Marshall Project - Cleveland found the centers operate with little oversight, including no regular onsite inspections and no quarterly reports.
During The Marshall Project - Cleveland investigation, the court ended a contract with one youth care center after it was asked questions about social media posts from its operator, who shared Facebook posts about “Free Ass Whoopins!” and “one lick from that cord” as a way to set kids straight.
If you or someone you know has been impacted by private placement centers, please contact The Marshall Project - Cleveland. We are investigating the conditions of private facilities that house Ohio children in the juvenile justice and foster care system. We are hoping to learn more about the experiences of children sent to these private facilities.
— Mark Puente
Retaliation lawsuit against Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze dismissed
A visiting judge in Cuyahoga County has dismissed a lawsuit against domestic relations Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze over claims by a former employee alleging witness intimidation and retaliation.
In September, Georgeanna Semary, Celebrezze’s longtime clerk, claimed the judge retaliated against her, leading to a $20,000 pay cut after Semary provided public court records to a Marshall Project - Cleveland reporter investigating the judge’s relationship with court-appointed receiver Mark Dottore.
In a dismissal order, Judge Reeve Kelsey, a retired judge from Wood County Common Pleas Court, disagreed with Semary’s allegations. Kelsey called Semary’s allegations “conclusory and speculative” and found that Celebrezze didn’t use intimidation. Semary’s attorney, Subodh Chandra, said the decision will be appealed.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland had previously reported Dottore has been paid about $500,000 in fees from divorcing couples in Celebrezze’s court. The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court removed Celebrezze from one divorce case after finding Celebrezze bypassed court procedure.
— Mark Puente
Got questions about the justice system? Ask us.
The justice system is confusing. That’s why we’re asking for your questions about policing, the jail and prison system, and the courts in Cuyahoga County.
Have a question you’d like us to tackle? Ask us. If we can answer it, we will. Submit questions here and find all the questions we’ve answered on our website. This week’s reader question centers on the use of the death penalty in Cuyahoga County.
Question: What percentage of death penalty cases in Ohio come from Cuyahoga County?
Answer: The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction lists 116 people on death row. Cuyahoga County judges sentenced 22 people, or about 19%, including four scheduled for execution in the next three years. These figures are current as of July 26.
Home to the state’s second largest county, Cuyahoga County leads Ohio in imposing death sentences.
According to the Ohio Attorney General’s 2023 Capital Crimes Annual Report, Cuyahoga County has imposed 70 of the state’s 341 death sentences, or about 21%, since Ohio’s death penalty law was enacted in 1981. The next highest counties had 62 death sentences in Hamilton, 23 in Lucas and 21 each in Franklin and Summit.
Ohio has not carried out an execution since 2018.
Cuyahoga County also leads in the number of death sentences overturned or vacated by higher courts for various reasons that include appeals and findings that defendants are ineligible for execution due to mental or intellectual disabilities. The county accounted for 33 of 102 death sentences that have been reduced or thrown out since 1981, according to a Marshall Project - Cleveland review of case summaries.
Around the 216
- Cuyahoga County has done an about-face and is now considering bringing back in-person visits for friends and family at the county jail, Signal Cleveland reports.
- Franklin County has agreed to a $7 million settlement with the family of Casey Goodson Jr., who was shot to death in 2020 by a sheriff’s deputy, 10 WBNS in Columbus reported.
- Ohioans with disabilities and their families won a federal court ruling that strikes down a section inside a controversial new voting law, WEWS News5 reports.
- Ohioans can now use their Apple Wallet to carry their driver’s license and state ID card, News5 reported. The feature is accepted at some businesses, apps and the Transportation Security Administration.
