CLEVELAND, Ohio - Led by presiding and administrative Judge Brendan Sheehan, the 34 judges of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas general division bench in Cleveland, Ohio arbitrarily voted on Monday to strip applicable Black and other defendants of their statutory and constitutional right to a speedy trial by delaying criminal and civil jury trials until Jan 19 without the consent of the applicable criminal defendant or his or her defense attorney, the second time they have done such a thing in recent weeks.

Community activists say they are upset over the issue, and say it is illegal.

In early November the judges voted to suspend jury trials until Dec. 1, this too an arbitrary vote that has no legal effect.

Bench trials are  not affected, the judges said in a press release on Monday.

General division common pleas judges in Ohio, by statute, hear felony cases and civil cases where damages are sought above $15,000, among a host of other legal issues.

The judges in Cuyahoga County say the escalating coronavirus pandemic is the reason for the delay in jury trials, though the right to a speedy trial in Ohio, unless waived, is a constitutional right under the 6th Amendment of the U.S. constitution, and a statutory right under state law.

In the absence of a speedy trial dismissal of the case with prejudice is a proper recourse.

The press release from the judges at issue does not say that a juror has been infected with the virus but instead complains that employees of the court have contracted the infectious disease since it hit the U.S. in early March.

Judge Sheehan did not return phone calls seeking comment but has previously said that he supports stripping defendants, a disproportionate of them Black, of their speedy trial rights and rights to a timely jury trial during a pandemic.

Chief County Public Defender Mark Stanton, a former criminal defense attorney who regularly represented the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association and cops prosecuted for alleged wrongdoing on the job against Black people, including excessive force killings by White Cleveland police officers, slammed down the phone without comment when called on to explain why he has not challenged what the judges have done to criminal defendants in this matter.

Stanton is White and has said he will not stand up against the activity, even if it disenfranchises indigent criminal defendants his office represents, most of them Black.

Some Cleveland activists are calling foul.

They want Judge Sheehan to step down as presiding and administrative judge over the court, Sheehan selected as the court's chief judge by his judicial peers on the court.

"Activists call for Chief Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan to step down for misusing his role in this instance," said activist Alfred Porter Jr., president of Black on Black Crime Inc.

"Until the 6th amendment and Ohio law are amended to strip Blacks and others of their constitutional and statutory right to a speedy jury trial or there is some case law from an appeals court or a rule that permits an involuntary waiver of a timely jury trial during a pandemic, community activists call on the judges to reverse the illegal vote taken on Monday to deny people timely jury trials, and thus speedy trials" said Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman. "In fact, activists call on our racist public defender's office and criminal defense attorneys, whether effective or ineffective, to file applicable motions to dismiss on speedy trial grounds if the denial of a jury trial interferes with a client's right to a speedy trial as well as a writ in either the 8th District Court of Appeals or the Ohio Supreme Court seeking an order that reverses this illegal and arbitrary vote by the general division common pleas judges in Cuyahoga County to delay jury trials without an agreement of a criminal defendant and his or her trial counsel."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.