This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their Cleveland newsletter and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s system of handpicking attorneys to represent children and parents appears to flout national best practices, state guidelines and the court’s own rules. The Marshall Project - Cleveland examined the juvenile court’s appointment system and found that a single attorney, William Beck, handled one of every eight assignments given to private lawyers who represent kids accused of crimes.
However, in response to questions from The Marshall Project - Cleveland, the court said that it now plans to modify how cases are assigned by the end of the year and create a new position to implement and monitor the new process. The court did not detail the planned changes. For example, three of the highest-earning attorneys — Beck, Paul Daher and Mark Schneider — collectively received more appointments on cases handled by Judge Jennifer O’Malley or her magistrates than the court’s other five judges combined.
The non-partisan group of more than 30 congregations and organizations grew concerned about Cuyahoga County leading Ohio in sending kids to adult court — a process called a bindover. More than 90% of the children were Black. Judges should not be making the appointments For more than four decades, the American Bar Association has said court appointments should not be made by judges to ensure attorneys are loyal to their clients and not the people giving them work.
Last year, the court agreed to assign public defenders to more delinquency cases after the county public defender argued his office was underutilized and pointed out “wildly inconsistent” practices by the different judges and magistrates. Assignments flow to a handful of attorneys The Marshall Project - Cleveland heard from more than a dozen attorneys eligible to take juvenile cases in Cuyahoga County.
“Honored” by the amount of work he receives, the former juvenile prosecuting attorney and probation officer would not directly answer questions about how he juggles so many cases or why 70% of his assignments come from just two of the court’s six judges. In Franklin County, juvenile court cases are first assigned to the public defender’s office. If there’s a conflict, a court assignment clerk distributes the cases to vetted private attorneys. Several attorneys sign up to sit in court for half of a day, ready to take cases and quickly meet clients.
Attorneys aren’t “beholden to judges” if the public defender’s office manages the appointments, said Angela Chang, who directs the office’s youth division. “It could be any number of things, but favoritism, nepotism and cronyism come to mind,” said one attorney who had received only a few appointments after a year on the list.
Other judges got top-dollar contributions from either Lenahan, Daher, Schneider, Mattes or Beck, who gives less frequently. “In too many instances, I visit youth who have almost no contact with counsel until a few days before the hearing,” said Pastor Gibson, who has served as president of the juvenile court’s advisory board, “and even that contact was, well, limited.”