Matthew Ahn had the stage to himself at Greater Cleveland Congregations’ forum for Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidates Tuesday night, which allowed him to play up a key policy difference with incumbent prosecutor Michael O’Malley. 

Elected in 2017, O’Malley skipped the event amid a dispute with GCC related to the plans.

Ahn, a law professor and former federal public defender, used his time to highlight a key difference between him and O’Malley: how the office handles bindovers. The term refers to transferring juveniles accused of serious crimes to adult courts. Cuyahoga County leads Ohio in bindovers by a wide margin, and nearly all bound-over youths are Black. GCC, a faith coalition that focuses on social justice issues, has highlighted the bindover issue in its advocacy. 

Ahn told the audience he supports delaying bindover motions until defense attorneys present arguments on behalf of their young clients.

“Generally, yes,” he said, then pivoted to “a much broader issue in the prosecutor’s office, one of over-charging. In other words, trying to put as many charges on somebody, or a bindover motion, in order to try to coerce a plea bargain.” When he promised “to end the practices of overcharging,” his comments were drowned out by applause mid-sentence.

When asked if he would halt discretionary bindovers “while you determined how to prevent this overcharging,” he said he has already committed to that. (State law requires bindovers for the most serious violent crimes, like murder. Local prosecutors have discretion to seek bindovers for less serious offenses.)

“We know that children who are moved over into adult court and sent to adult prison are 34% more likely to commit another crime upon their release as compared to children who are kept in juvenile court on the exact same charges,” he said. On his campaign website, Ahn attributes this statistic to a 2013 report compiled for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ahn claimed that O’Malley “believes that my position on this issue, which is based on the data and the research, is part of some kind of conspiracy with this organization.”

O’Malley has defended his bindover position

In a letter to GCC more than a week before the event, O’Malley said any request for a moratorium on discretionary bindovers would require him “to violate my oath of office.” 

He also cited in the letter Marsy’s Law, which demands that Ohio county prosecutors “meet with victims and their families at critical stages of the criminal justice process and to provide them with an opportunity to be heard. Any request for a commitment by the GCC that would demand that I ignore a victim’s input in a case is something that I will not do.”

He further argued that ending bindovers “would have a significant impact on the safety of our community” and that delaying them is “a practical impossibility.” The full letter is available on his campaign website.

O’Malley’s ‘extortion’ claim

O’Malley’s absence from the event was triggered by what he said were a couple of issues raised by GCC in a pre-event conversation held via Zoom.

He said GCC leaders asked him to “commit to providing $500,000 from [the prosecutor’s office] budget to the GCC for programming” and that this “has both the look and feel of extortion.”

In a statement shared with Signal Cleveland, GCC Executive Director Keisha Krumm said the request was for “a $500,000 investment in safe shelter and wrap-around services for victims of violent crimes provided by the Brenda Glass Multi-Purpose Trauma Center, a non-profit organization on Cleveland’s East Side, which is currently receiving funding from the county to support its work. The Brenda Glass Trauma Center is not GCC and is not run by GCC.”

Krumm said GCC informed O’Malley of the “error” on Feb. 14 but has not heard from him again.

“With 100% percent certainty, the Brenda Glass Multi-Purpose Trauma Center was never mentioned,” O’Malley said in response to questions from Signal Cleveland. “Regardless, under Ohio Law transferring of County funds from the Prosecutor’s Budget cannot be done unilaterally. As a result, I could never agree to their request.”

In a press release on Thursday, GCC member Diana Woodbridge of Forest Hill Church, Presbyterian said that O’Malley “was absolutely and clearly informed” that the request was for support of the trauma center. The name “was read aloud and shown in print via screen share on our Zoom call,” Woodbridge said.

O’Malley told Signal Cleveland he joined the meeting on a phone, not a device where he could see their shared screen.

“The suggestion that GCC is practicing ‘extortion’ is a grave one, and I implore Prosecutor O’Malley to walk back his words,” said Rabbi Joshua Caruso of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple.

“I think it’s fair to say that we are shocked, disappointed, and angry about his blatantly false and irresponsible accusation of extortion,” wrote Rev. Ryan Wallace, pastor of Fairmount Presbyterian Church, in a separate statement sent to Signal Cleveland on Thursday. 

“All that being said, our hope is to set the record straight about his mischaracterizations of GCC and to move on,” Wallace wrote.

O’Malley and Ahn are scheduled to debate at a City Club of Cleveland forum on March 5, moderated by Signal Cleveland government reporter Nick Castele. Tickets are available until March 1, and the event will be streamed live at the link above.

The race will be decided on primary election day, March 19. Early voting is already under way.

Stephanie Casanova contributed to this report.

This report was updated with additional information from O’Malley about his meeting with GCC.