Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O’Donnell today ruled that dereliction of duty charges against five Cleveland police supervisors can be dropped. Randolph Daley, Michael Donegan, Patricia Coleman, Jason Edens, and Paul Wilson could now face similar charges in East Cleveland municipal court. The five supervisors joined a cross-town chase in 2012 that included more than 60 law enforcement vehicles and ended in an East Cleveland middle school parking lot where police fired 137 bullets at two unarmed black suspects. Each of the five supervisors arrived at the school but none fired a weapon.
Defense lawyers tried to stop the motion to dismiss arguing County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was trying to “blatantly forum shop.” If the case is allowed to proceed in East Cleveland, the change of venue means a jury will come from a population that is more than 90% black. The city’s only judge is also African-American. The five supervisors are white. Defense argued the prosecutor could have chosen to pursue charges two years ago in East Cleveland but instead went to a grand jury for indictments in county court. The new charges were filed by East Cleveland with McGinty’s cooperation earlier this month.
In his ruling, Judge O’Donnell acknowledged the defense’s arguments and wrote, “To all of which I say: so what?” He said McGinty’s office had pursued the prosecution in “good faith” and the move to drop the charges in county court, thus paving the way for the case to proceed in East Cleveland, was not done in “bad faith.”
Both sides now await a decision from the Eighth District Court of Appeals. The supervisors' lawyers argued that the case should stay in Common Pleas court because the case originated there. The trial was scheduled to begin in county court on Monday.
Earlier this spring, Judge O’Donnell acquitted Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo for his role in the 2012 incident.
