Cool Cleveland Interviews Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Candidates
As a service to the community, Cool Cleveland has invited all five Cuyahoga County Prosecutor candidates to respond to a series of questions prior to the primary election on Tuesday, March 6, 2012. Because no Republican candidates are running, the Democratic candidate with the most votes in the Democratic Primary on Tue 3/6 will become the next County Prosecutor. Responses to these questions will be reprinted verbatim, up to the requested limit of 350 words total.
I am proud to have appointed a number of leaders of the minority community to be foreman of the grand jury. I requested that each write a report about his experience and what recommendations he might make to improve the system and publicly share the report.
As Reverend McMickle accurately pointed out, our criminal justice system in Cuyahoga County is broken. We need to be smarter about who we charge and how we charge crimes by having a Prosecutor’s Office that is functioning 24 hours a day and 7 days a week reviewing cases immediately after they come in from the city or the suburbs. We need to immediately review the facts of the case, speak to the arresting officer(s), and charge individuals only for the crimes actually committed – not over charge to create leverage for plea bargaining. If we charge individuals immediately and assign attorneys early, we can resolve the low-level offenses through early disposition programs like the drug or mental health courts and focus on the defendants’ rehabilitation. If the defendant and attorney do not want to plea bargain most will agree to a charge by information rather than pushing cases to go before the Grand Jury. This means that the parties agree that there is a basis for a charge and by definition and process over charging is practically eliminated. Likewise the early assignment of counsel and the promptly held hearing allows defendants who want to plea to receive the help that they need and not be forced sit in jail for a month awaiting an attorney to be assigned and a hearing set. Ultimately, as Prosecutor, I will ensure that there is no disparity between how individuals from the suburbs are charged versus how individuals from the City are charged.
If a defendant would prefer not to take advantage of an early disposition program, he or she always has the right to take the case to trial. But as Prosecutor, I will not overcharge individuals and will work to resolve the low-level offenses early so that we can focus on the individuals who habitually commit crimes.
Question B:
I have promised that when I am elected County Prosecutor, I will work to make our criminal justice system more transparent, data-driven, and performance-measured so that the public will know how its County Prosecutor’s Office is performing. The public needs to have confidence in its criminal justice system so that they will feel safe on the streets and in their homes and businesses.
The community needs to be engaged with the Prosecutor’s Office and I will hold quarterly community meetings in the City and all around Cuyahoga County in order to provide updates on what has been achieved and what goals have been met. At those meetings, I will also listen to the concerns of our citizens and learn where we can improve. We will then respond to those citizen concerns. If the public is not engaged in the criminal justice system and its performance, they will have neither confidence in it nor the Prosecutor’s Office. I will keep an ongoing dialogue with the public.