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From the Metro Desk of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black news venues (www.clevelandurbannews.com) Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes (pictured), a daughter of retired Congressman Louis Stokes of Shaker Heights, is fighting back as to alleged race and sex discrimination and other harassment via a 49-page complaint from the White, male Ohio Supreme Court Disciplinary Counsel that demands she take a mental exam following a bar complaint, something White male judges under scrutiny are rarely if ever required to do, data show. Stokes, who is Black and intends to appeal the demand to the full seven-member Ohio Supreme Court, has also criticized an editorial on the matter published in the Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest Newspaper. She made her statement on the highly publicized controversy to the Call and Post Newspaper. The statement is as follows:
I have been a dedicated judge on the Cleveland Municipal Court for the last 18 years, having recently been re-elected by the voters of the City of Cleveland.
I have worked tirelessly over this period of time doing my very best to be fair and impartial to all those who have appeared in my courtroom.
While the recent Complaint filed before the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Ohio Supreme Court contains allegations concerning alleged abuse, I am most troubled by the assertion that I may be suffering from a mental illness which interferes in my ability to serve as a judge. I have never had mental health issues and will vigorously defend, in the appropriate forum, any suggestion along these lines.
Out of deference to the Ohio Supreme Court and the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, I prefer and full well intend to defend the charges brought against me at a hearing.
While the recent editorial of the Cleveland Plain Dealer cites Disciplinary Counsel’s Complaint against me as if it is fact; nothing could be farther from the truth. I am in the process of formulating my defense with the assistance of counsel, and will indeed provide evidence which places the allegations in context.
It is my hope that the Cleveland Plain Dealer will await a full airing of these charges before they request again that I step down. After all, justice so requires.
