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Controversial Cuyahoga County deputy unit tickets mostly Black drivers, records show
Since it launched in 2023, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Downtown Safety Patrol has stopped more than 4,000 drivers, but deputies have issued 75% of the tickets to Black drivers, a Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 Cleveland investigation has found.
According to department data, over two-thirds of the stops made by Downtown Safety Patrol deputies did not result in an arrest or citation in 2023 and 2024. The news outlets’ analysis found that Cleveland police officers who patrolled downtown during the same hours issued tickets in about 72% of stops in 2023, raising questions about the motive for the sheriff’s department’s traffic stops.
“I definitely thought these (deputies) were fishing,” motorist Henry Ray told the news outlets about his 50-minute traffic stop in 2023. “You told me you stopped me for one thing. Then later you started coming with other things of what you stopped me for.” Read more.
– Mark Puente
Retaliation lawsuit against Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze can move forward
Embattled Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze lost a legal battle when the Ohio Supreme Court recently rejected her appeal to dismiss a lawsuit from a former aide who accused the judge of retaliation and intimidation after her termination.
Georgeanne Semary’s lawsuit, filed in September 2023, contends she was transferred out of the judge’s office in April and forced to take a $20,000 pay cut after she allowed The Marshall Project - Cleveland to review public court records involving Celebrezze’s longtime friend and court-appointed receiver Mark Dottore.
A visiting judge dismissed the suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, but Semary’s attorney, Subodh Chandra, won an appeal to reinstate the case. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy has appointed Mark Wiest, a retired judge from the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas, to oversee the case.
Cuyahoga County records show taxpayers have so far paid $250,000 for outside lawyers to defend Celebrezze. The judge did not reply to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, a state disciplinary board has recommended Celebrezze receive a two-year suspension of her law license for what it calls an extensive pattern of misconduct.
The report by the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct stated that Celebrezze made false statements to fellow judges and state investigators while steering work to Dottore. One year of the suspension could be eliminated if Celebrezze commits no further misconduct and pays the costs of the proceedings against her.
The case is now before the Ohio Supreme Court. The justices could accept the recommendation or impose a more severe penalty.
The panel’s recommendation came two years after The Marshall Project - Cleveland first began investigating Celebrezze’s relationship with Dottore. Celebrezze also faces an ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI.
– Mark Puente
Theatrical play on wrongful convictions hits Ohio theatres
“The Lynched Among Us,” a stage production written and performed by men who were wrongfully convicted, will be performed Sept. 26 at The School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati.
Ru-El Sailor, Michael Sutton, Lamont Clark, Charles Jackson and Laurese Glover play themselves, depicting their journeys of incarceration and eventual freedom using a collage of monologues, rap, songs, skits and local news clips. The play is written and directed by Alfred Cleveland, a co-founder of Voices of Injustice, a group composed of men fighting to prove their innocence.
“The Lynched Among Us” debuted at Cleveland State University, then moved to Playhouse Square this month. The Cincinnati performance marks its third showing.
The project was partially funded by the estate of Isaiah Andrews, an Ohio man exonerated in 2021 after serving 45 years for a crime he did not commit. Andrews died in 2022.
– Brittany Hailer
Around the 216
- Cuyahoga County residents got their first glimpses of the county’s new $890 million jail, slated to be built in suburban Garfield Heights. Plans call for construction to start in the fall and be completed sometime in 2029. News 5 Cleveland
- Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno has signed contracts with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally. News 5 Cleveland
- Lorain County officials are considering creating a county public defender’s office and eliminating its practice of assigning private attorneys to defendants who cannot afford their own lawyer. Cleveland.com
- Ohio attorneys are being offered up to 12 continuing legal education credits for working at the polls for the upcoming election. Court News Ohio