Prosecutor Candidates Respond to Questions on Open Discovery, Jailhouse Informants & Stacking Cases
Cool Cleveland has invited the five Cuyahoga County Prosecutor candidates to respond to questions in preparation for the all-important Democratic Primary on Tue 3/6. The winner of the primary will become the next prosecutor since the Cuyahoga County Republican Party has not offered a candidate.
Here are the five candidates and their answers to this week’s questions: Subodh Chandra, Stephanie Hall, James McDonnell, Tim McGinty and Robert Triozzi. For this week, we asked each of them the same set of questions:
WEEK THREE:
Please use a maximum of 700 words total to answer the following three questions:
* What is your position on “open discovery?”
* What is your position on “stacking” indictments?
* What is your position on using “jailhouse snitches?”
Definitions
* Open Discovery is the prosecutor sharing all information discovered during an investigation, no matter which direction that information points in, guilt or innocence.
* Stacking Indictments is when a person gets caught with say a rock of crack in their pocket while driving and the car, the cell phone, the money in their possession all become separate cases … now four instead of one. Three will be dismissed if the person agrees to the plea bargain.
* Jailhouse Snitches: If police believe someone is guilty and have no proof, they will place a paid snitch in the cell with the suspect, with the understanding the snitch will come out the next day and say the suspect admitted the crime to them overnight. They’ll take the witness stand and tell the same story. In some cases professional snitches used to be given a “license” to commit crimes, such as selling drugs, so the police don’t have to pay them out of their funds. Also known as a “get out of jail card.”
* Subodh Chandra
* Stephanie Hall
* James J. McDonnell
* Tim McGinty
* Robert Triozzi
Click here to read the Prosecutor Candidates’ responses to ALL of Cool Cleveland’s questions.