There’s a reason federal judges are appointed for life: It’s the only way to keep them immune from public pressure. Of course some will say the practice takes accountability out of the hands of the governed, but others counter the trade-off is worth it. Almost without exception, the federal bench is never tainted by scandal and is relatively free from influence peddling … that is until it gets to the highest level — the U.S. Supreme Court.
This is not to say that scoundrels run local courts; by and large that’s not the case. But cases are overseen by lawyers who have to stand for reelection, which makes them sensitive to the will — and sometimes the whim — of the electorate. If they make a ruling in a high-profile case that a majority of the voters don’t agree with, they could be out on their ass come the next election.
And no one knows this better than Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association president Steve Loomis and cop lawyer Pat D’Angelo. That’s why a motion was filed to waive a jury trail for Officer Michael Brelo, the cop charged in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in the incident where 137 shots were fired into the vehicle containing the two unarmed suspects.
Make no mistake that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John P. O’Donnell is a man of great integrity, one of the finest jurists on the local bench — but with that said, one who is about to be placed between a big rock and a real hard place. If the evidence points toward guilt in the Brelo case, and Judge O’Donnell so rules, a firestorm of criticism will be heaped on his head and the cops union will conduct a not-so-subtle campaign to run him off the bench. And this being Cuyahoga County, in all likelihood such an effort would be successful.
That’s how the legal game is played in America, and has been played for centuries. Indeed, the most hated man (at least from cop’s perspective) in town is County Prosecutor Tim McGinty. Why? Because he did his sworn duty as he saw fit: The facts lead him to seek an indictment of Officer Brelo and, knowing the fallout that was to come, he did what the law required him to do: Issue an indictment in the case.
Was McGinty’s a calculated decision? Probably. He knows he can’t be run out of office by the cop’s union, but the fact is — in my humble opinion — he wouldn’t give a flying fuck if they tried, or even if they succeeded. Yeah, he’s just that kind of a public servant, that kind of a man.
This tactic goes to the core of what’s wrong with policing in America, and why it will take a concerted federal effort to change it. As cases from Rodney King to Staten Island, where a cop was clearly shown putting Eric Garner in an outlawed chokehold … juries virtually will always side with cops, no matter the evidence or circumstance.
Why? Fear. Cops have sold the white public the notion (beginning in 1864 at the end of slavery) that “those big black bucks are dangerous, and you’d better allow us to handle in the way we know how or they will break into your house, slit your throat, rape your wife, and bash in the heads of your children. And we’re the only thing standing between you and that kind of terror, so you damn well better allow us to do our jobs in any way we see fit.” And a gullible public continues to believe this scurrilous tale … so who in their right — and frightful — mind wouldn’t vote to free a cop if they were on a jury?
The simple fact is that facet of American so-called justice is not going to change anytime in the foreseeable future. The only way to put an end to the unjust outcomes is to prevent such killings like the 137 shots from occurring in the first place. That’s why police reform is so critical, because, it’s the path of least resistance. Changing the entire criminal justice system and making it work in a fair and equal manner … that’s a near impossibility — we’ve been doing wrong for too long to all of a sudden now start doing it right.
Now, everyone stand up and sing “God Bless America” and hide our inbred, systemic, and long-standing prejudices behind Old Glory. That’s what we always do in this country.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.