EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An East Cleveland judge will decide next month if five Cleveland police supervisors will stand trial on misdemeanor charges related to a 2012 chase that ended in a deadly shooting.
Defense attorneys for the five supervisors argued Monday that East Cleveland Judge William Dawson should dismiss charges against the supervisors due to a series of procedural issues. The attorneys' primary focus was the contention that the supervisors' right to speedy trials have been violated; five-and-a-half years have passed since the Nov. 29, 2012 chase that ended in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
Dawson said he will consider arguments from the defense attorneys and East Cleveland Prosecutor Willa Hemmons before issuing a ruling Aug. 31.
"I respect that this has been a long road," Dawson said at the end of Monday's pretrial hearing. "I don't want to drag it out for any particular reason, either."
Supervisors Michael Donegan, of Cleveland; Patricia Coleman, of Brooklyn; Jason Edens, of Avon; Paul Wilson, of Cleveland; and Randolph Dailey, of North Ridgeville are charged with dereliction of duty, a first-degree misdemeanor, in five separate cases in East Cleveland Municipal Court.
Ohio law requires persons charged with first- and second-degree misdemeanors to stand trial within 90 days of an arrest of service of a summons.
The case against the supervisors has been languishing in various courts for more than four years, since they were first indicted in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The case moved to East Cleveland in 2015, after then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty's office dropped charges in common pleas court.
East Cleveland prosecutors filed new charges against the supervisors July 3, 2015.
The move to East Cleveland drew criticism from the supervisors' attorneys, who accused McGinty of shopping for a more favorable jury pool. The supervisors appealed the move to the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled last year the trial could be held in East Cleveland.
Defense attorneys argued Tuesday that it's still been more than a year since the Ohio Supreme Court issued its ruling - well past the 90-day limit outlined in state law.
Hemmons argued Monday that she could not move forward with a trial until Dawson determined whether East Cleveland has jurisdiction over the case. Defense attorneys challenged that assessment.
"Once the Ohio Supreme Court sent this back to you, you had jurisdiction [to hold a trial]," said attorney Thomas Shaughnessy, who is representing Wilson.
Hemmons argued that she and Dawson should be given more latitude due to the complex nature of the case. She also said that, because there are five defendants, she should be allowed five times the 90-day limit - or 450 days - to bring them to trial.
"This is not your run-of-the-mill misdemeanor case," Hemmons said.
Other issues - including the recall of former East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton, the election of current Mayor Brandon King, and uncertainty over whether Hemmons would remain prosecutor under the new administration - also contributed to the delay, Hemmons said.
But Attorney Henry Hilow, who represents Dailey, said unrelated issues in the city of East Cleveland should not impact the supervisors' cases.
"It's not for this court to give the city of East Cleveland a pass because they had internal strife," he said.
Defense attorneys have also objected to Hemmons' prior offer to drop the charges if each supervisor paid $5,000 in restitution to the city of East Cleveland.
Two of those attorneys - Hilow and Kevin Spellacy, who represents Coleman - sent letters to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and other authorities to ask them to review the matter "for any potential criminal conduct and/or prosecutorial misconduct."
Hemmons said Monday that none of those agencies have contacted her about the letter.
The five supervisors were among nearly 100 police officers who participated in the 2012 chase, the Ohio Attorney General's Office said. None of the five supervisors fired their guns.
Thirteen officers fired shots at the end of the chase, but Michael Brelo was the only one to be charged. He was acquitted in May 2015 of voluntary manslaughter.
The five supervisors were called to testify during Brelo's trial, but they invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
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