This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
Our commitment to fight for public records
Sunshine Week serves as an annual reminder of the important role that public records play in government transparency and examining how it functions. Without access to hold government officials to account, leaders operate in secrecy, which often leads to corruption.
Reporters at The Marshall Project - Cleveland strive to produce a stream of accountability journalism that often brings swift and impactful changes. However, we typically have to fight delays and make numerous follow-up requests to acquire simple records.
Sunshine Week, first launched in 2005 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, is a chance to recognize that access to government records is vital to our mission to serve readers, especially those impacted by systemic failures in the criminal justice system.
Sunshine Week begins March 15. To mark the occasion, The Marshall Project - Cleveland and our newsroom colleagues in St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi, wrote separately about the importance that public records play in a Democratic society.
You can read our colleagues’ work here.
Read more about why we fight for public records in Ohio.
– Mark Puente
Cuyahoga County deputy’s lying called into question
The integrity of a Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputy will be tested after a public defender asked a judge to toss out a conviction because the deputy admitted to “lying” on his job application.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported in August 2025 that Deputy Kasey Loudermilk apologized for lying on his application. He also omitted details about his work history, including incidents in which other police forces disqualified him for failing polygraph and physical agility tests, according to records contained in his personnel file.
On Feb. 26, Sean Moore, the assistant Cuyahoga County public defender, asked a judge to remove a man’s no-contest plea in a concealed-carry gun case because prosecutors never disclosed that Loudermilk lied during his hiring process. The judge has yet to rule.
“[The man] had no idea and no way of knowing that [prosecutors were] withholding impeachment evidence that could very well have affected the outcome,” Moore wrote in his motion.
Loudermilk stopped the Cleveland man for speeding in February 2024. He searched the car without consent and found a gun, Moore wrote.
Nearly a year later, Loudermilk, a member of the sheriff’s department’s former Downtown Safety Patrol, testified in court during a hearing to determine whether the evidence should be tossed out. The judge denied the request, and the man later pleaded no contest.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the court filing.
In September 2025, prosecutors said they were working to determine whether Loudermilk would have credibility issues if called to testify in court. A spokesperson said prosecutors did not know about Loudermilk’s lying, although the office asks every police force yearly about credibility issues with officers. Such issues, including past misconduct by officers, are often required to be disclosed to defendants and their attorneys.
Sheriff Harold Pretel declined to discuss the filing. He instead released a statement: “Internal Affairs investigated concerns regarding Deputy Loudermilk’s background check and determined the claims [of lying] were unfounded.”
Loudermilk, who participated in high-speed chases that killed two bystanders, was assigned to the detective bureau in December, records show. One of the women who died in a chase is the sister of the man seeking to overturn the concealed-carry conviction.
– Mark Puente
Prison libraries could receive a boost under proposed federal program
A new federal bill in Congress is aimed at improving prison libraries across the nation, while also helping prepare incarcerated people for their eventual release.
The Prison Libraries Act, introduced earlier this year in the U.S. House of Representatives, would establish funding for a federal grant program to create and maintain library services inside prisons. The bill is now with the House Judiciary Committee.
The enhanced prison library services would include more books and technology, more and better-trained staff and stronger partnerships with public libraries. The funds are designed to directly support literacy, digital skills and job readiness, proponents say.
In Cuyahoga County, many returning citizens are working hard to rebuild their lives and to support their families. Employment is key to any successful transition. Stronger library services inside prisons would help people communicate better, understand workplace expectations, resolve conflict in healthier ways and stay focused on long-term goals.
– Louis Fields
Around the 216
- Staffing and increased pay rates are being blamed for the steep increase in overtime pay to many Cleveland police officers. The city spent over $27 million in overtime pay in 2025. Cleveland.com
- Flock cameras inside the city of Cleveland are being used by law enforcement agencies across the country, raising more questions about government photo surveillance of vehicles. Signal Cleveland
- A Cleveland police civilian oversight commission is raising questions over the timing of the city’s efforts to end its consent decree agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. News 5
