Bail reform to be tested soon in Cuyahoga County courts
Cuyahoga CLEVELAND —
County Common Pleas Court and three municipal courts are likely to become test sites for bail reform next year.
That’s according to John Russo, administrative judge for the common pleas court and leader of an ongoing pretrial justice review in the county.
Russo made his comments Thursday following a public forum on a recent Pretrial Justice Institute report that found nearly 30 percent of defendants in Cuyahoga County sat in the county jail one day this year simply because they couldn’t afford to make bail of $500 or less.
The push for bail reform in Cuyahoga County began last year, shortly after cleveland. com launched “Justice for All,” a series examining how the existing bail system is unfair to low-income suspects.
On Thursday, Russo told cleveland.com that the common pleas court, Cleveland Municipal Court and likely Shaker Heights Municipal Court and Parma Municipal Court will host pilot projects on bail reform.
The projects will include the adoption of a risk-assessment tool for sizing up defendants during bail hearings, as well as supervision and other pretrial services that judges can use to keep an eye on defendants who are freed while awaiting trial.
Cleveland Municipal Court has already embraced a highly regarded risk assessment tool developed by the nonprofit Laura and John Arnold Foundation, but is planning to beef up pretrial services as well.
The pilot programs also are expected to improve collaboration between prosecutors and defense attorneys when it comes to setting bail.
Russo said two other Pretrial Justice Institute recommendations can be implemented soon. One is to provide local judges with training in the basics of bail and to the other is to convene a summit of the judiciary to draft a vision for what pretrial justice should look like and how to get there.
Thursday’s public forum, organized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, elicited several questions about what that vision might look like.
Common Pleas Judge Nancy Fuerst raised concerns about releasing defendants without being able to obtain a verifiable address for them. Russo said that is a problem, but that a cell phone might be more important than an actual address when it comes to reaching defendants.
Attorney Mary Jane Trapp suggested that examining the role of race and socioeconomic status on pretrial justice, which is one of the six recommendations of the Pretrial Justice Institute, should be a priority.
Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery wondered why state legislators weren’t represented at the forum. They are the ones “who designed how our court systems would work and be funded” and have since stripped municipalities of money.
She also said mayors and city managers should be part of the equation given the pressure they apply on municipal courts to generate revenue.
In response to Montgomery’s concerns, the institute’s Rachel Sottile Logvin said statutory changes have resulted in pretrial reforms in other states, including New Jersey.
Funding was also on the mind of Cullen Sweeney, deputy an attorney public defender for Cuyahoga County. He said he doesn’t see how the county can come up with resources for pretrial services while also trying to cut its budget.