MANSFIELD: A Matter of Probity, Integrity and Trust

“Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is strong.”

–Friedrich Nietzsche

The woman in the ad intones that as an assistant county prosecutor, Tim McGinty kept us safe by locking up rapists and murderers. The only problem is… he evidently went overboard and did too good of a job since not all of those he locked away were actually guilty. Yes, I’m back to the Michael Green case again because it’s critically important and goes directly to the trustworthiness of the man who’s attempting to convince voters he’s the only one qualified to become our next county prosecutor.

For the sake of argument, let’s just say I’ll give McGinty a pass on his flawed prosecution of Green for the rape of a Cleveland Clinic cancer patient… a false conviction for which Green unjustly spent 13 years of his life behind bars. I’m willing to give McGinty the benefit of the doubt and assume he twisted facts into a web of lies to facilitate the prosecution of an innocent man because he sincerely believed that Green was guilty as charged. Now I know that’s a tough one to swallow, but bear with me a moment.

Green certainly wouldn’t be the first man to be sent to prison on a bogus beef, now would he? After all, someone had to take the fall, and with the quickness; the reputation of such a world-renowned institution had to be protected at all costs.

If the general public really knew how callous the manipulators of our criminal justice system — police investigators and prosecutors — can be when it comes to protecting folks’ freedom versus protecting institutional reputations they would be horrified and terrified; but since miscarriages of justice usually only happens to “the other guy,” the populace shakes its collective head and says, “Oh, well… that’s some tough shit.”

But here’s the ethical problem: Once, after a decade behind bars, Green was able to get the Innocence Project interested in his case, it still took two years and a court order before prosecutors would release a semen-stained washcloth that contained the DNA so that it could be tested… testing that would eventually prove Green innocent and free him. Now, if the process is supposed to be about insuring justice and convicting the guilty (and not simply about prosecutors racking up high conviction stats) then why in Heaven’s name did it take so long to release the key evidence to free an innocent man? Why did this unconscionable delay occur?

It occurred because that’s the low, scurrilous point to which our system of criminal justice has devolved in this country; it occurred because there’s a culture extant in too many prosecutors’ offices around the nation that places “winning” above all else… including even justice and fair play; it occurred because we Americans fail to stand up for the principles on which our country was allegedly founded… expecting instead for someone else to protect our rights and do the heavy lifting for us. As Robert Heinlein once famously said, “Once the monkeys learn they can vote themselves bananas, they’ll never climb another tree.” We Americans have quit climbing.

I’m even willing to give McGinty the benefit of a second pass; let’s just say someone else made the decision to withhold the washcloth and block the efforts of an innocent man to free himself. At least that’s McGinty’s version of events and he’s sticking to it.

OK, I’ll be magnanimous and go so far as to give McGinty a third pass… this one for attempting to exculpate his own behavior in the Green case. PD columnist Connie Schultz, in a Sept. 2004 article on Green/McGinty, wrote: “McGinty was recently quoted in The Plain Dealer as suggesting that Michael shared the blame for his conviction, claiming Michael had bragged on the street about his prison past and his conquest of women. Michael had no prison record at the time of trial, and he always denied bragging about women.” In other words, McGinty’s prosecution of Green — in his own mind at least — really wasn’t all that flawed after all: Green was a Black braggart… so he kinda got what he deserved. What a load of unadulterated bullshit.

Read Schultz’s entire column here.

In order for McGinty to win a conviction in the Green rape case in the first place, Joseph Serowick, a forensic analysis that worked for the City of Cleveland at the time, had to slant evidence in the prosecutor’s favor and then take the witness stand and swear to the distorted facts he’d fabricated. No problem; it later came out that apparently Serowick had done exactly this same thing many times prior. In fact, he was somewhat of a master at it. Of course McGinty had no knowledge of what Serowick was up to, right? Right?

In point of fact, about two decades ago scandals began erupting in various jurisdictions around the country that described the despicable practice of select forensic analysts routinely shading the truth or outright lying to aid prosecutors in winning convictions. It came out that prosecutors didn’t have to directly ask analysts to cook up evidence; the analysts knew what was needed to win convictions and made the facts fit the suspect.

This is what happens in a criminal justice system where winning is the primary — indeed, maybe only — concern… the truth be damned.

However, when Michael Green won his freedom he filed a lawsuit and it was discovered just how he’d been lied on and convicted in the first place. When Serowick’s revolting tactics were revealed he was fired for his misdeeds… by Subodh Chandra by-the-way, who was the city’s law director at the time. The city’s Law Department had to go back and review 100 cases Serowick testified in or was associated with.

After his dismissal Serowick applied to Youngstown State University (YSU) for a position teaching forensics… a subject where truthful analysis of evidence and honest testifying is of paramount importance since freedom — and indeed even lives — can hang in the balance. More than one person has been executed in America based on a lie told by a forensics “expert.”

So, who does Serowick list among his references? You guessed it, the man he lied for in the Green case; the assistant prosecutor who sent an innocent man to prison: Tim McGinty.

Even with all of the above passes, Tim McGinty still has enough dirt on his hands to disqualify him from becoming the next county prosecutor. The first example of dirt that won’t wash off is in the form of Exhibit A, or the “References.” This is what Serowick presented to the folks at YSU.

Next is Exhibit B: the “Memo.” Tammy King, who worked in Human Resources for YSU, wrote that McGinty gave a glowing recommendation for a man he knew to be a liar, and probably a perjurer to boot.

Sorry, I’m not willing to give McGinty another pass this time… this goes beyond the Pale… it’s a serious breach of integrity and judgment, and alone should disqualify this man from becoming the next county prosecutor.

It comes down to this: Do we want real, complete county reform or not… or do some people get a pass from the public for their past behaviors based on their name or ethnic heritage?

My great fear is the electorate in Cuyahoga County is too easily bamboozled… hoodwinked by slick ads that portray a candidate’s own revisionist version of history. That the “name game” is still so strong voters will mark their ballots for the first “Mc” that catches their eye… no matter the dubious record the person has amassed in three decades of public service — or is “disservice” a better word?

Here again is the challenge: Ask any defense lawyer you know — any one of them — and see what they say about Tim McGinty. For that matter, ask anyone who works around the Justice Center… all the way down to the secretaries and maintenance personnel.

We as a people are too easily distracted by “bread and circuses”… “hey, how do you think them Cavs are going to do this year?” … too busy to much concern ourselves with the contest for (my apologies to Ed FitzGerald) what is the most powerful and important job in the county: Prosecutor.

True, the county administrator can help to assure that as a society we take care of needy children, repair bridges, create employment, look out for elders, and balance the budget; but the prosecutor… he’s the one who can put your monkey ass in the penitentiary.

And for all those dunderheads who proclaim “I’m not going to break the law, so what do I care about who wins the prosecutor race?” please keep this in mind: If our current prosecutor wasn’t so laser-like focused on building his stats with petty, slam-dunk reefer and crack pipe possession cases, priming and grooming his staff to serve on suburban councils and run for virtually every judgeship that becomes available, perhaps he would have spotted the corruption the feds charge was occurring all over the county, in essence robbing the taxpayers blind. Make no mistake, this county prosecutor’s race is supremely important, and we should all act accordingly.

 

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.

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