We
phoned Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty last week for his response to the
call by the ACLU of Ohio and others for the appointment of a special prosecutor for the Nov. 29 gangland style
slaying[1]
of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
While not directly
addressing the ACLU request, McGinty’s emailed reply said that he had
“asked Attorney General Mike DeWine and Sheriff Bob Reid to thoroughly
investigate this matter. I have great confidence in their ability and
professionalism.”
The
part of the statement that really caught our eye, however, was the first line
of the email from his office: “I have never been
one to dodge hard work.”
This was a clear signal that the prosecutor
intends to take this case head on and that he will be resistant to calls to any
calls for a special prosecutor.
Of course, such calls are likely to come from
those who suspect the former county judge and one-time assistant county
prosecutor possesses neither the temperament nor the requisite degree of
probity to seek justice in this case.
McGinty
has demonstrated throughout his career, in whatever position he was serving, a
bulldog’s devotion to his view of the requirements of justice. He cannot be
unaware that his conduct and decisions in this matter will be more closely
scrutinized than anything he has experienced in his public life.
No matter how
he is viewed today, by his many admirers and detractors, this case will forever shape his
legacy as the people’s lawyer.
Will he ensure the full, fair and impartial
investigation that all parties and the public deserve? Can he set aside
whatever personal sympathies he may have for police officers to determine
whether they acted within the bounds of the law and their oaths? Will he excuse or seek
to justify the behavior of any officers found to have acted outside the
scope of law, regulation, or policy?
And
if he finds that one or more or even all of the involved officers went rogue in any manner that violated their duty or the public trust, will he strive with every resource at his command to see
that they are brought to justice with the same vigor and lack of equivocation
that he would pursue the alleged murderer of twenty-six innocents in Newtown,
Connecticut?
It
will likely take a year or more, but we are going to find out just what kind of
prosecutor we elected last month.
[1] We
generally avoid such loaded language where there are undetermined issues of
fact under investigation. But given what is undisputed — thirteen policemen
fired 137 shots into a stopped motor vehicle whose occupants were apparently
unarmed and without any avenue of escape — “gangland slaying” seems pretty apt.
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