Pictured are Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard and eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell (in sky blue tie), Cleveland Police Patrolman Michael Brelo (in blue shirt), Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (in red-pink tie with polka dots), Community activistArt McKoy ( in red, black and green turban), 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Malissa Williams (in white shirt), and 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Timothy Russell ( in dark blue sweatshirt).
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Greater Cleveland community activists groups, led by community activist Art McKoy, will rally at 10 am on Monday, May 18 at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland to demand convictions by Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo. (Editor's note: Brelo is on trial before O'Donnell and faces two counts of voluntary manslaughter for his role in gunning down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell following a high speed car chase in 2012. Closing arguments have concluded. Brelo fired 49 of 137 bullets fired by 13 non-Black Cleveland cops, the other 12 of which were not charged. O'Donnell, a White controversial judge and a documented crook who has stolen homes from county residents for mortgage companies and banks such as JPMorgan Chase Bank and the county Democratic party for a fourth of the value, is hearing the case in lieu of a jury per Brelo's request. The corrupt judge said last week that his decision could come as early as Tuesday morning in the case).
"We do not trust Judge O'Donnell, we do not trust the justice system, and we do not trust Black preachers calling for calm," said McKoy. "We do not want violence or destruction of property, but we do not call for calm."
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and area Black preachers, led by the Rev. Larry Harris of the United Pastors in Mission, are calling for calm in the case, one prosecuted by anxious county prosecutor Tim McGinty.
The only patrolman charged in the Williams-Russell shooting was Brelo.
Activists want the other 12 police officers charged criminally and have said that regardless, Brelo must be convicted since he participated in the shooting too. The issue, they say, is not solely how many shots were fired by Brelo, but that all 13 are guilty as sin, and for, in the least, criminally negligent behavior that rises to the level of manslaughter.
Prosecutor McGinty and Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine, both of whom are White, have repeatedly lobbied in support of the 12 officers that escaped prosecution, and both McGinty and DeWine were endorsed by local and state police unions. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
