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Nov
26
City Councilman Zach Reed, of Ward 3, was arraigned Monday morning on charges of DUI and a seatbelt violation.
Reed was not physically in court this morning because he was in a rehab facility. Reed’s attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
The Councilman’s next court date is set for a December 18th pre-trial. All Cleveland Municipal Court Judges have recused themselves from this case..
The city now needs to get a visiting judge from the Ohio Supreme Court.
So – why didn’t Judge Synenberg do that the last time around? I’m assuming it has something to do with Reed being on Cleveland City Council? No? Then what? Why all of them?
The decision was made because all Cleveland’s judges know Reed, and he votes on City Council to set the court’s budget. “We’re really concerned that we don’t want there to be any appearance of impropriety,” Jones said.
The council also controls the purse strings for the city prosecutors; they have not asked to be excused from the case.
Cleveland’s Chief Prosecutor Victor Perez could not be reached for comment.
City prosecutors do not answer media inquiries without permission from Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office could not be reached to get this permission.
The court will ask the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a judge from outside the city by the next hearing, schedule for Dec. 18.
When Reed faced a previous trial for the same charge, Joan Synenberg, then a municipal court judge, tried the case. This is a decision that judges make individually. “Judge Synenberg felt she could hear the case and she heard the case,” Jones said.
What is different this time around, Jones said, is that this is a second offense and with Synenberg now on the County Court rather than the municipal one, none of the sitting judges wanted the case. “I’ve talked to all the judges and all of the judges indicated they didn’t want to hear the case,” Jones said.
Okay – well, I’m just going to hold myself in check on that there thing about how Judge Synenberg “felt she could hear the case.” Hear it – maybe. Judge and hand down the most appropriate sentencing? In check.
More from Henry Gomez here.
Update: Here’s the PD’s 11/27/07 print article. It says that last time around – which was the first charge, the prosecutors, not the muny judges, recused themselves and a special prosecutor was appointed. This time around, the article says, the prosecutors will not be recusing themselves and no special prosecutor will be appointed.
I’m out of my comfort zone here – why, the first time around, with Reed’s first charge, didn’t the prosecutors want to touch it but the judges were fine? Now, the second time around, the judges don’t want to touch it, but the prosecutors are fine?
Could be very simple – I have no idea. What do others make of this?
The PD offers this tape of Judge Larry Jones giving his reasoning for why all 12 muny judges are recusing themselves. Tuesday, 12/18, 1oam is the next court date.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:59 pm November 26th, 2007 in Cleveland+, Courts, Crime, Culture, Government, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues
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7 Responses to “Zach Reed update (x2): Cleveland muny bench recuses self this time, why not all previous times?”
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Hi Jill –
JUst wondering what exactly is the “County Court” mentioned in the extract from a news story about Joan Synenberg that was in the above post? Is the extract incorrect in that it should have said Common Pleas Court? I don’t know where you got that story, but did the reporter toss around terms without knowing what they meant? Just curious?
I found the story by googling “zach reed” – I think at cleveland.com – I might even have just put in “reed” I think.
Yes – I think the reporter meant the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. I’m sure it was just a word count thing.
I think, but I don’t remember precisely, that she was appointed to muni and then ran and won, then she stepped in to run against Christine Russo for the county court of common pleas. I’ve written about Synenberg a few times because I’ve thought that the PD is a bit obsessed with her. If you search on her name on this blog, you’ll find some of the older posts with links, but if they are PD links, they’ll probably be deadends now.
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Hi Jill –
Who was the councilman’s defense lawyer in the priors? Did he contribute to the judge, same political party, a prominent figure in Cleve/Cuyahoga politics? There seems to be some sense out there that the councilman was treated favorably, or got off lightly, because of either his connections or his position. That kind of story looks to be made for citizen journalism with some docket pulling and etc. Is anybody working on that?It’s a little far away for me, and it might be a dry hole, but the topic sure seems worth checking into.
Bill, George Forbes also represented him the last time. And as you know, Forbes is an all-purpose influencer in this region. He controls the major black media outlet (the Call & Post) for his client Don King, and is even reliably said to personally draft some (perhaps many) of its editorials. And he has more than a little pull with the senior levels of the PD and with the court system and the NAACP (which he chaired for years) and on and on. None of this is really a mystery, but nor does it really prove much in terms of undue influence being applied. Yes, having Forbes on your side in Cleveland surely helps.
Bill – I agree with you about the story being made for citizen journalism but I bet it would also hit up on ethics issues too – for example, how much do you expose and still let the person live – or try to live/rehab? As with Stephanie Studebaker, at a certain point, people (most, though not all), want to let people sort things out – then follow up, you know?
So – what do the journalism ethics say is the place to stop and then start up again?
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