Reform Plan
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
FORECLOSURES
Recognize that foreclosed and abandoned properties are a blight on our neighborhoods and havens for crime, disinvestment and loss of property value.
Step up criminal prosecutions of predatory lenders, mortgage brokers and appraisers.
Identify and pursue absentee, vulture investors who conceal their identity and attempt to “flip” foreclosed properties while ignoring their maintenance and taxes.
Increase utilization of Board of Revision as the forum for tax foreclosure cases.
Increase resources for judicial foreclosures by using special project funds generated by court cost charged to lenders who file foreclosure cases.
Increase staff assigned Tax Foreclosure Unit to search out stalled foreclosure cases and prosecute as tax foreclosure cases to facilitate their transfer to the County Land Bank.
Require Tax Foreclosure Unit staff to work with city and county land banks to employ tax foreclosure process to target blight and promote economic development.
Foreclosed and abandoned properties are a blight on our neighborhoods and havens for crime, disinvestment and loss of property value. The newspaper recently chronicled the story of a young girl that was assaulted on her way to school by a man who dragged her into an abandoned house. In 2008, Cleveland Police Officer Derek Owens was killed in the line of duty investigating a complaint of criminal activity at another abandoned property. Unscrupulous investors with no ties to or interest in the welfare of our community have gobbled up these houses up at fire-sale prices and now sit atop a huge inventory of foreclosed home that are a threat to our neighborhoods.
In 2006, HB 294 dramatically expedited the foreclosure process – essentially substituting an administrative hearing for a lengthy judicial proceeding. Then in 2009, the Cuyahoga County Land Bank was created by SB 353 – giving the County the power to address vacant and abandoned housing, further streamlining the foreclosure process and delivering “clean” title as the Land Bank acquires properties, and creating a funding mechanism for disposition of these properties without raising taxes.
While these reforms have been crucial, we are now moving into the implementation phase, and the County Prosecutor can and should play a vigorous role in combating this crisis in the following ways:
First, step up criminal prosecutions of the predatory lenders, mortgage brokers and appraisers who prey upon of our most vulnerable citizens. These unscrupulous individuals push people into predatory loan, loans the borrower never really has a chance of being able to repay, pocketing a quick buck and then walking away leaving entire neighborhoods in shambles. These transactions are often based upon nothing less than deception and fraud, and are crimes under Ohio law. We need to send a clear message that Cuyahoga County will no longer be a safe haven for these con men to operate.
Second, we must go after absentee investors who buy foreclosed properties for next-to-nothing, neglect them and allow them to deteriorate while they hide behind out-of-state corporations and fictitious names. When an owner of property seeks to insulate himself from the duty to maintain a property and pay taxes by deceiving the government as to his identity, we must ensure that he faces the legal consequences for doing so.
Third, while the state and the county have taken steps to address this crisis, the county’s response should be expanded. The Civil Division of the Prosecutor’s Office is charged with foreclosing on properties that are tax delinquent, and should play a greater role in responding to this crisis. In 2006 the General Assembly enacted HB 294 providing for the expedited handling of tax foreclosures by Boards of Revision in a process that facilitates the transfer of such properties into the hands of county and city land banks. The Prosecutor needs to advocate for increased utilization of the Board of Revision as a forum for tax foreclosures, and for the addition of a special Board of Revision foreclosure panel to hear such cases.
Fourth, the County also needs to place more resources into judicial foreclosures. The hiring of additional foreclosure magistrates could be accomplished by tapping into the special projects funds that are funded by court costs imposed upon lenders who file foreclosure cases.
Fifth, we must address the problem of stalled foreclosures and bank walkaways. Often after a bank or other creditor forecloses and obtains a judgment, the creditor will attempt to sell the property at sheriff sale, only to find that there are no bidders. The creditor then walks away from the case. The property and the foreclosure case, which is no longer an active case on the common pleas docket because a judgment has been entered, slip into a legal limbo while the property and the surrounding neighborhood continue to deteriorate. To solve this problem we must assign additional staff to the Tax Foreclosure Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office to search out such stalled cases, ask the court to dismiss them, re-start them as tax foreclosure cases, and either sell them or transfer them to the County Land Bank. The additional staff can be funded out of the Delinquent Tax Assessment Collections funds assigned to the County Prosecutor.
Sixth, Tax Foreclosure should be used to help cities get control of vacant and abandoned properties which create lawlessness and decline in our communities. The Prosecutor must assign members of the Tax Foreclosure Unit to work with city and county land banks. Working closely with land banks, the Prosecutor can employ targeted tax foreclosure as a powerful tool to combat blight and protect the safety and vitality of our communities.
It is time for everyone to proclaim the foreclosure crisis as a state of emergency and realize we are in a fight for the right to live in our homes without fear of the threat that these abandoned properties pose to our families and our neighborhoods. This crisis is nowhere near over and we should be prepared to combat it as long as it takes.
DNA TESTING
Any reasonable request for DNA testing by anyone, pre or post-conviction, will be honored and testing will be arranged as soon as possible.
The two pillars of a criminal justice system in a free society must be the presumption of innocence and a Prosecutor who pursues justice not convictions. To this end, the Prosecutor must use and allow the defense an equal opportunity to use all investigative tools that will, with certainty, identify, charge and convict the correct individual for the correct charge.
In most cases errors in witness identification or DNA testing are discovered before trial, but there are notable exceptions. In some cases, witnesses have been found to be lying; but there are also cases where an honest, seemingly reliable witness positively—but wrongly—identifies the wrong person as the perpetrator.
I personally learned the lesson of eyewitness identification not always being 100% reliable as the prosecutor in the case of Michael Green in 1988. The rape victim, who was a cancer patient at the time at a local hospital’s attached hotel, positively identified a former employee as the person who raped her in her room. Police arrested this man and had him indicted. I tried the case. The detectives, jury, judge, and myself all believed the victim. The appellate courts upheld the verdict. Mr. Green was sentenced to prison where parole was denied because he refused to admit his guilt.
Fortunately, DNA testing was eventually discovered, and after 13 years in prison, Mr. Green was finally released thanks to the persistence of his family who insisted the evidence be tested for a DNA match. The actual rapist was identified by that same DNA sample. When Mr. Green was released, I went to see him to apologize on behalf of myself and the entire criminal justice system, which failed to do justice in his case. I was the only person to apologize to him. A very generous and forgiving man, Mr. Green asked only that I always remember his case when I look at other eyewitness identification cases in the future. As a Judge, I taped his name to my bench so that I would see it every day when I entered court.
I have, and always will, use Mr. Green’s tragic case as an example to encourage reform that allows for early assignment of defense counsel and liberal access to DNA and other scientific testing for the defense. Any reasonable request for DNA testing will be approved to anyone pre- or post-conviction to ensure that the right person is punished for a crime.
I have also fought to see that jailed defendants do not have to wait a month or two to be assigned an attorney. As a result of the reform program I began, attorneys are assigned immediately after arrest and defendants have their first pretrial court hearing within days. The innocent, overcharged, and mentally ill now have an advocate due to those reforms. Now the attorney receives discovery right away, can establish a defense, and find alibi or eyewitnesses while they are still available. The attorney can present mitigation, obtain dismissal, reduce the plea or obtain a bond reduction, and get the accused out of jail and back to work and with their families.
Mr. Green’s case will always be on my mind when all future cases are reviewed, especially in capital cases.
EXPUNGEMENTS
The County Prosecutor’s Office will thoughtfully and completely respond to all requests for expungement within 30 days.
The County Prosecutor’s Office will work with the Legislature to expand the number of offenses and individuals eligible for expungement including those convicted of multiple, low level, non-violent offenses many years ago.
There are many people in our community who find themselves on the wrong side of the law for a variety of reasons. Some defendants commit crimes by specific intent and some by accident or misfortune. The Prosecutor’s Office needs to weigh each request for an expungement with an eye toward giving any non-violent first offender a second chance. The goal should be to allow any first time, non-violent offender who has met all of his/her Court ordered obligations the opportunity to move on with his/her life without legal restriction. It is the fair thing to do and it is the reason why expungements exist in the first place.
The County Prosecutor should work with the Legislature to expand the number of offenses eligible for expungement. In addition, the County Prosecutor should work to allow those convicted of multiple low level, non-violent offenses in the distant past to seek an expungement as long as they have refrained from any criminal activity since their last offense and complied with all Court orders resulting from their convictions.
I will propose legislation that would give the Common Pleas Judge the discretion to decide in new expungement level categories, after a public hearing where evidence and witnesses could be presented by the person seeking expungement and the prosecution. The Court will determine if the evidence and history of the individual’s family life, work history, and community involvement convince the Court of the following:
The person has led a law-abiding and respectable life in the required 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 years since the offense.
The person truly poses no threat to the community.
An expungement would truly be in the best interest of the community.
DIVERSION
The Court, and by extension the Prosecutor’s Office, must avoid a one size fits all approach and recognize that a number of individuals present themselves to the Court due to a pre-existing condition.
In a civilized society we must recognize that a number of individuals who present themselves before the Courts on minor criminal offenses do so because of a pre-existing condition that had a causal effect on his/her offense. The targeted use of drug and mental health courts, as well as early intervention and alternative resolution programs has been shown to have a positive effect by steering minor offenders toward treatment. These programs should be encouraged because they not only restore dignity to the process but they save money over the traditional methods. In order to operate these diversion programs effectively, however, we must demand that they demonstrate success through rigorous, transparent, independent assessments of their viability.
GUN VIOLENCE
The County Prosecutor's office will create a “Task Force” on gun violence comprised of representatives from Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies as well as interested community leaders. The Task Force's mission will be to identify strategies that will reduce juvenile gun crimes and to address gun violence among youthful offenders.
SEX CRIMES
The County Prosecutor’s office will promulgate recommended policies for investigating and prosecuting sex crimes to all police departments throughout the County.
The County Prosecutor’s office will create a fund to insure the immediate and professional analysis of any and all rape kits received by local police departments and any other evidence gathered as a result of a sexual assault.
The County Prosecutor will work with the County Sheriff to insure that all registered sex offenders report their residence as required by law.
I support County Executive Ed FitzGerald’s call for a common policy for responding to sex crimes. Any sexual offense is a horrible experience for the victim and their family. A sex crime can also create a sense of fear in a neighborhood threatened by the fact that the perpetrator is still at large and may strike again. The criminal justice system should not compound the pain and suffering by the victim and their family by needlessly delaying the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrator. Processing of DNA and forensic evidence in a timely manner can not only help determine the facts of the case but also determine if the perpetrator committed similar offenses in the past.
To this end the County Prosecutor should lead a task force that routinely meets to review current policies and procedures used by local police departments and determine where “choke points” exist in the system that could delay an investigation. If additional resources are needed to process vital forensic evidence, the County Prosecutor will work with funding sources to insure that rape kits and other forensic evidence from sex crimes do not sit on a shelf due to lack of resources.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
ETHICS
No employee of the County Prosecutor’s Office shall accept anything of value from anyone doing business with the Office or having an interest in any matter pending with the Office.
All professional staff of the County Prosecutor’s Office shall file a complete ethics form on or before April 15 of the following year.
In order to be effective as a member of the County Prosecutor’s staff, those employed must be above suspicion of any potential conflict of interest in matters before the Office. Therefore, it is essential for the professional staff to disclose all of their financial interests in a manner consistent with the County Prosecutor.
SOLICITATION
There will be no charitable or political solicitation during business hours in the County Prosecutor’s Office at any time.
Employees of the County Prosecutor shall be prohibited from contributing to any campaign committee created to advance the political or policy interests of the County Prosecutor.
Employees of the County Prosecutor’s Office must be able to conduct their duties free of any pressure to contribute to the political or charitable interests of their co-workers and/or superiors. The only charitable solicitation that will be permitted in the Office will be through the County Combined Charitable Campaign.
PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS MODEL
Create a lean organization by reviewing the current organizational structure, compensation model, classification plan and policy and procedures manual.
Create a high performing agency through the development of a strategic plan, budgeting to the plan and measuring performance against the plan.
Create a transparent business model by posting the performance against performance metrics.
The citizens of Cuyahoga County have a right to expect that their tax dollars will be expended in an efficient and effective manner. To this end the County Prosecutor’s Office will be transformed using a lean business model that makes maximum use of the dollars budgeted, provides the community with the maximum return for their money and provides them with regular updates on the performance of the office. To this end we will immediately implement three actions upon taking office:
Hire an independent professional agency to review the existing office and recommend the most efficient organizational structure, appropriate staffing levels and qualifications for the staff in the recommended structure, and the appropriate level of compensation. We will also ask them to review and recommend changes to the existing policy and procedure manuals to reflect the best practices in public administration. These changes will allow us to recruit and train the best people, promote the best people and retain the best people.
Immediately upon taking office we will commission a strategic plan that will clearly spell out the mission, vision and values for the agency. After completing that task, we will create aggressive agency goals, objectives and performance measures. After completing the plan we will create a budget that is based on our new strategic plan and do away with the incremental budgeting approach that has long been the practice in Cuyahoga County. Finally, we will measure our performance against our plan and publish the results on a website. If we are falling short of our goals, there will be a remediation plan put in place.
The public has a right to know how their dollars are spent. In addition to regularly posting our performance results on-line, we will also publish an annual report on the State of the Criminal Justice System in our County. The County Prosecutor’s office will issue a quarterly report to the community and sponsor community meetings every quarter to seek the input of the citizens of Cuyahoga County and report on our progress in achieving the goals we set. Since the criminal justice system currently spends the majority of the County’s unrestricted General Revenue Fund any savings we can achieve by identifying ways we are being inefficient will free dollars that the County Executive and the County Council can redeploy for other purposes.
HIRING PROCESS/PATRONAGE
Post all available positions for a minimum of two weeks on both the County Prosecutor’s website, and the County website.
Hire support staff using the new Human Resource Commission articulated in the Charter to identify, rank and refer applicants meeting the minimum qualifications for any position.
Exceed the intent of the Ohio Revised Code by banning the hiring of anyone related in any way to anyone employed by the County Prosecutor’s Office.
Hire professional staff by using the new Human Resource Commission to identify and refer applicants who meet the posted qualifications.
You cannot assemble the best possible staff to operate in a lean organizational structure when you select staff based on who they know rather than what they know. The intent of this policy is to hire the best qualified candidate, promote the best and retain the best.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
In order to maintain public confidence in the integrity and non-partisan nature of the decisions of the County Prosecutor’s office and to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, an employee of the County Prosecutor’s office who files for partisan public office will take a leave of absence and, if elected, must choose which position they wish to hold.
This is a new day in Cuyahoga County. After several years of public corruption trials of Democratic Party officials, maintaining public confidence in the office calls for new rules and greater expectations. We will need to make an extra effort to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest and will take whatever steps are necessary to do so. Prosecutors will be encouraged to be active in their communities, charities and other civic organizations, but the County Prosecutor’s Office cannot be perceived to be a politically-motivated operation and maintain credibility.
DIVERSITY
Meet or exceed all goals articulated by the County Executive to ensure that all staffing levels of the Prosecutor’s Office reflect the diversity of our community.
Establish an internship program for second and third year minority law students to give them work experience and an opportunity to pursue any available positions in the Office as they arise.
A diverse workforce, one that reflects the community as a whole, will enrich the Prosecutor’s Office with a wealth of experience and talent. To this end we will seek out qualified candidates regardless of race, gender or national origin for the Prosecutor’s professional staff. The benefit to the Office is that a victim of crime will be able to talk about the elements of the offense with someone who will make them feel comfortable and, whenever possible, communicate with them in their native language.
MEDIA RELATIONS
All requests for information will be processed in a timely fashion with regular updates provided while the request is in process.
The purpose of the media relations function at the County Prosecutor’s Office is not to promote the Office or any individual. Rather, to respond to requests for public information as soon as possible. Regardless of whether or not the current media relations function exists in the future, there will be a specific person tasked with meeting the needs of the legitimate press during and after normal business hours.
REFORMING THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
CENTRAL BOOKING
Work with the County Sheriff to establish a Central Booking operation in Cuyahoga County
Establishing a 24/7 Central Booking function at the County Jail will reduce the number of errors in identifying the individuals arrested and allow for an immediate analysis of cases as they come in during the hours immediately after a crime/arrest. If the Police bring the felony arrest to Central Booking they can immediately process the arrest report so that the booking and screening process can begin immediately. A decision to charge the individual with a misdemeanor or felony prosecution or release him/her can be made shortly thereafter by the assistant prosecuting attorney for both offices. The Clerk of Courts can then take the complaint, assign a public defender and place the case on the docket of the Court of appropriate jurisdiction.
COMMUNITY PROSECUTION
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office will expand its use of Community Prosecution
Community Prosecution is widely recognized as a best practice that aims to synergistically mesh the efforts of the Prosecutor’s Office and all law enforcement agencies with both private and public organizations as well as all members of the community.
With this type of collaborative action, the Prosecutor’s Office is able to serve the community well beyond merely doling out convictions. Our justice system is responsible to the society as a whole, taking into account much more than just what goes on in the courtroom. How can we help the victims? How can we help their families? How can we repair the damage inflicted on our communities? How can we mitigate costs to our taxpayers? How can we avoid repeat offenses? These answers and more will all be addressed using Community Prosecution.
Community Prosecution in Cuyahoga County will include:
Actively involving the community. We must proactively invite community members to join our efforts in reducing crime and increasing public safety. This could be achieved by participating in open community forums every quarter that will allow attendees to express their concerns and pinpoint specific neighborhood problems. Members of the Prosecutor’s Office will explore solutions that address these matters.
Being an agent for change. We will aggressively seek to have all members of the Prosecutor’s Office make concerted efforts toward making changes that will help ensure ongoing public safety.
Assigning an advocate and create partnerships. In order to allow community representation, an advocate will be assigned for each neighborhood and suburb to address all local concerns and grievances. Every Councilperson, Mayor, Police Chief and Commander will have an individual prosecutor/liaison to facilitate communication and responsibility. This partnership will allow and encourage open discussion and dialogue.
Establishing accountability. The Prosecutor’s Office will pull from various relevant databases that will aid in identifying and solving the specific concerns, issues, and problems raised by concerned community members. Strategies will be developed, acceptable solutions will be implemented, and regular reporting will be conducted.
The Prosecutor’s Office will be committed to engaging our community in dealing with the aftermath of crime within their own neighborhoods. This proactive, all-inclusive approach of community prosecution will lead to a safer environment for everyone involved and increase public confidence in their criminal justice system.
REGIONAL CRIME LABORATORY
Establish a “state-of-the-art” regional crime laboratory in conjunction with the County Medical Examiner’s Office
The County Prosecutor will work to establish a “state-of-the-art” regional crime laboratory in conjunction with the County Medical Examiner’s Office and a major independent medical provider in the area. This lab will enable law enforcement to promptly obtain any evidence available utilizing cutting edge technology. DNA programs will also be open to defense to avoid errors. One option would be to create a partnership with a local college as part of their forensic sciences program to provide an available pool of trained forensic technicians and to off-set the cost of building the facility.
PROSECUTOR’S ACADEMY
Enhance training of local prosecutors and law enforcement by hosting a series of training programs on the law and law enforcement techniques
The County Prosecutor will create a “Prosecutor’s Academy” modeled after the Ohio Judicial College and the National Judicial College curricula to educate and train both prosecutors and law enforcement officials across Cuyahoga County on law-related topics and issues.
SERIAL KILLER and SEXUAL PREDATOR ANTHONY SOWELL
On December 8, 2008, Anthony Sowell was arrested by the Cleveland Police for rape, kidnapping, and attempted murder at his home on Imperial Avenue. The evidence was solid; the victim was injured and cooperative; and the arrest by the police at the scene was both courageous and professional. Yet several days later, the Cleveland Prosecutors inexplicably straight-released Sowell from their city jail back to the streets without any charges. Inexcusably, the Cleveland Prosecutors never even did a record check on him, which would have only taken mere seconds. Had they done so, they would have found that Sowell was an ex-con fresh out of prison for rape with the same M.O. He was also listed as a registered sex offender. The City quickly forgot about Sowell, who went on to eventually kill six more innocent women in his home.
Since 1999 and a similar straight-release of an ex-con by a Chief City Prosecutor/Law Director that resulted in another unnecessary high-profile murder (the infamous Bond Court Office Tower attack on Susan Locke), I have strongly advocated for a halt to the City’s dangerous policy of straight-release. (See warning other straight release murders would happen again; “Straight Release: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied,” Cleveland State University Law Review, Volume 48, pg. 306, 2000). As a member of the Justice System Reform Program, I repeatedly warned both the City and that if they kept straight-releasing violent criminals, additional innocent victims would be harmed or murdered by the persons they negligently set free. It was only a matter of time. And it happened just as predicted by the Justice Management Institute (JMI) Report experts and myself – which is why I ultimately decided not to handle the Sowell trial. I believed that my strong published warning that a tragedy like this could occur would eventually become an appellate issue.
Had the City of Cleveland done what every responsible city in the country would have done (i.e., conduct a record check on the man they had in jail on serious, violent felony charges) they would have discovered that Sowell was a registered sex offender. He should have been kept in jail, charged, and the case sent to the county prosecutor. Under the plan recommended by the JMI Report this tragedy of errors never would have occurred. We would have a Central Booking system and the county prosecutors would be working 24/7 making the charging review and decisions on their own cases. The county prosecutors would have reviewed the evidence, his record, and charged Mr. Sowell immediately. The decision would have been a “no brainer.” That is why we need to reform the present system of having the Cleveland city prosecutor, who only prosecutes misdemeanors, make the charging decision for the felony prosecutor (the county prosecutor) who has the statutory responsibility to try the case.
As required by Ohio law, before Sowell was released from prison on parole for rape, a public hearing would have to be held in order to determine his public sex offender classification in the Court of Common Pleas, otherwise known as a “Sexual Predator Hearing.” These hearings are open and public pursuant to the “Megan’s Law” statutes that were adopted across the country to determine both the level of risk a sex offender poses and the amount of supervision needed to protect the public from him. The appellate courts have ruled that there is nothing private or confidential about these hearings. The rapist’s risk assessment report is also a public record openly discussed at the hearing and available to the public. There is no so-called Rapist Right to Privacy Rule in Ohio or any of the 50 states. The accusation made by some of my opponents that I violated Sowell’s privacy rights is absolutely, unequivocally incorrect.
As the Judge who started the criminal justice reform movement in Cuyahoga County and the person who brought in the JMI best-practices study and published a law review article attacking straight-release, I have been openly discussing for years the sub-standard work of the City of Cleveland Prosecutor’s office in straight-releasing dangerous offenders who should have had record checks and been kept in jail. Instead, they have been released and have gone out and killed more innocent victims. It is outrageous, and I feel duty-bound to continue to publicly fight this practice otherwise history will repeat itself and Cleveland will tragically have more victims from straight-released murders like Anthony Sowell, Eric “Big Willie” Wilson, Kelly Faust, and Victor Washington.
ABOUT TIM'S CANDIDACY
The reason I’m in this race is the same one that made me pursue a career in public service when I finished school at age 21. I want to make a difference. Our criminal justice system is broken and public corruption has disgraced our county. I am not motivated to do this by anything but a sense of duty to make it right and a love of our city.
My wife and I publicly announced before I entered this race that we have decided to donate the majority of my paycheck as County Prosecutor to fund scholarships for economically disadvantaged students which will be managed by the Cleveland Foundation and the records of which will be made publicly available. Those who accuse me of being a "double-dipper" do not know my history and are doing so for political purposes. I have never believed in double-dipping as my past actions conclusively prove. I was eligible to retire in 2000. I could have retired and collected two salaries for every election that followed. Had I done so and also finished this last term, I could have collected over one million additional dollars double-dipping. But my wife and I made the decision long ago that it just wasn't the right thing to do for us. I didn't choose a career in public service to get rich--but rather to make a difference. And that is exactly what I'm going to do as County Prosecutor.
