Prosecutor Meets With NAACP, Ministers on Handling of Drug Cases
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Olivera Perkins
April 18, 2002
The Cleveland NAACP, a local pastors group and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason agreed yesterday to work together to find ways to reduce the number of people charged with felonies for possessing a small quantity of crack cocaine for the first time.
In response to the discussion with the NAACP and the United Pastors in Mission, Mason said that he also wanted to meet with arresting officers and suburban judges who bind cases over to the county grand jury, as well as others in the criminal-justice system, to find a solution to their concerns.
The Rev. Marvin McMickle, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, raised the issue of nonviolent, first-time offenders being charged with felonies after his experience as a foreman of a county grand jury. That led to yesterday’s meeting with Mason.McMickle said people in such circumstances should be offered alternatives because a felony conviction, or even a felony charge, can have lifetime consequences such as being barred from holding certain jobs. He said such alternatives should not be offered to people caught with large quantities of drugs, repeat offenders or drug dealers. “We do want to come down hard on drug use,” he said.
Mason and McMickle agreed that drug court, where the emphasis is on getting treatment for first- and second-time offenders caught with small quantities of drugs, offers a good solution. However, the court can take only about 4,000 people, perhaps only half of the number who could benefit from such a program.
“The question is how do we reallocate resources to fund more programs like this?” McMickle said.
The NAACP and the ministers group also requested the meeting to urge Mason to get tough on lenders who prey on poor and elderly homeowners with high-interest, high-fee loans.
Mason said that his office would pursue convicting a major predatory lender on fraud-related or other criminal offenses to send a “chilling effect” throughout the industry.
Mason also agreed to join the groups and local legislators to lobby against a pending state Senate bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons. The House already has passed the bill.