Pictured are Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes, Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Larry Jones (without beard), a former chief judge of the Cleveland court, and Cleveland Municipal Court Presiding and Administrative Judge Ron Adrine (with beard)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473.  Coleman is a community activist and 22-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

INVESTIGATIVE ARTICLE

COLUMBUS, Ohio- The Ohio Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the disciplinary arm of the court led by  Scott Drexel, began disciplinary proceedings last week against Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes by calling two Black male judges to testify against the Black female judge.

Drexel was hired in 2013 and was  run out of the state of California as its disciplinary counsel for allegedly harassing lawyers and judges.

Now led by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, the seven-member all White and majority Republican Ohio Supreme Court for decades routinely harassed women and Black lawyers and judges subject to discipline, and treated them more harshly than their White and male counterparts, data show.

Rarely will a judge testify against a judicial colleague during a disciplinary hearing, and rarely are they called to do so. But Stokes' case seems to follow no traditions, other than that she is Black and female, and has been subjected to a double standard by a high court charged with administering justice and possible discipline to lawyers and judges without regards to race or gender.

Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Larry Jones, a former chief judge of the Cleveland court, and Cleveland Municipal Court Presiding and Administrative Judge Ron Adrine, did all they could during their testimonies last week to try to help the White male lawyers representing Drexel's office destroy Stokes. Both were called to testified as a big part of the disciplinary counsel's case against Stokes.

Both Adrine and Jones are Black.

The crux of the disciplinary counsel's quest thus far is that Stokes is rude and uses too many court resources, and holds court too long. But none of this, by most standards, meets the threshold for suspension or disbarment under either the Ohio Lawyer's Professional Code of Responsibility, or the Judicial Code of Conduct, particularly where the use or judicial resources and the hours of court must be addressed via the local rules of court.

A three-member hearing panel will make a recommendation on discipline, if any, to the high court, which can accept or reject the recommendation, and can also act independently on its own.

Stokes is a daughter of retired 11th congressional district congressman Louis Stokes, the first Black in Congress from Ohio, and a niece of the late Carl B. Stokes, and Louis Stokes' brother and only sibling.

Carl Stokes is a former Cleveland Municipal Court judge, and a former mayor of Cleveland, and the first Black mayor of a major American city.

Judge Stokes was in attendance for her hearing last week, as was the mainstream media that have also become engrossed in the case, particularly the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper

Louis Stokes is a Democrat, and O'Connor, the first female chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and a former lieutenant governor under former governor Bob Taft, is a Republican. And the disciplinary hearing involving his daughter comes as Cleveland will next year host the Republican National Convention.

Whether the disciplinary proceedings against Judge Stokes are politically motivated remains to be seen.

Assistant Disciplinary Counsel Joseph Caligurli, on behalf of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, told the panel at the hearing last week that the evidence will show that when a person, any person, walked into Judge Stoke's courtroom he are she felt the wrath of Stokes, whom he called judicially incompetent, among a host of other names.

"Judge Angela Stokes' reign of terror has had a profound impact on the administration of justice for far far too long," said Caligurli," who is White.

Jones admitted to the panel that when he led the Cleveland court Stokes did not interfere with a balanced budget to accommodate her firing and hiring of personal bailiffs, and other resources, and Adrine would not name the so-called judicial colleagues that he said had complained about Stokes, who has had a wealth of individual bar complaints filed against her, whether legitimate or trumped up.

Nonetheless, it is the disciplinary process that is garnering scrutiny, as well as the overall operations of the 13-member largely Black Cleveland Municipal Court. (Editor's Note: Judge Ray Pianca, of the 13 judges, operates the separate housing court).

Stokes' attorney, Paul Daiker, told the panel that Adrine, is essentially corrupt. And an investigation by Cleveland Urban News.Com found that Adrine's court reporters, like Laura Williams, are known for falsifying court transcripts to help corrupt judges fix cases,

Also, Adrine's court employees, police records reveal, have been caught routinely stealing from the court coffers, a further indication reveals, and another indication of his lack of leadership, some say.

According to Daiker, Adrine had been secretly compiling data against Judge Stokes.

The judge's attorney also said that Adrine, the chief judge since 2008 and after Jones won a seat on the state appellate court for Cuyahoga County,  had recruited people to "bare false witness against Judge Stokes."

Adrine had a road map to target Stokes and would stop at nothing, Daiker said.

"We believe that Judge Adrine has engaged in tactics that necessitate greater scrutiny," said  Daiker to the hearing panel.

Louis Stokes, an out spoken critic of Republican pushed anti-voting rights legislation adopted in recent years by the Ohio state legislature, attended the hearing in support of his daughter, but has not publicly commented on the ongoing saga.

The high court temporarily suspended Judge Stoke's law license prior to the hearing, which is also a rarity, absent a felony charge, which requires a suspension with pay until court proceedings are completed.And Adrine had barred Stokes from hearing criminal cases, which is illegal since only the Ohio Supreme Court can discipline judges, the high court has ruled via case law.

The disciplinary complaint against the controversial judge, filed by Drexel, who is White, alleges,among other charges, that Judge Angela Stokes, 61 and elected to the Cleveland Municipal Court bench in 1995, utilizes too many court resources, and that she has mistreated court personnel, attorneys, and defendants and plaintiffs.

Stoke's  previous lawyers denied all of the allegations that might lead to the suspension of the judge's license in a 41-page response to the complaint and called them a witch hunt. Daiker filed an amended response to the complaint on his client's behalf.

The case could go on for weeks, and likely months, until a decision by the high court on discipline is issued.

More witnesses are scheduled.

Ohio municipal court judges hear traffic and misdemeanor cases, and civil cases where damages sought are at or less than $15,000.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)