A View from the Bench

By The Honorable Judge Steven K. Dankof Montgomery County Common Pleas Court

steven.dankof@montcourt.oh.gov nd before Dantes could open his mouth…the jailer disappeared, taking with him the lamp and closing the door, leaving stamped upon the prisoner’s mind the dim reflection of the dripping walls of his dungeon.”1

On May 19, 1975, three young African American men were accused of the brutal murder of Cleveland grocer, Harold Franks. Based upon the “synthesized”2 testimony of 12-year-old Edward Vernon who later admitted he hadn’t even seen the murder, the three young men were convicted and sentenced to death. One of those men is my friend Ricky Jackson who served 39 years, 5 months and 27 days3 before his exoneration by the Ohio Innocence Project and its Director, UC Law Professor Mark Godsey.

I have been honored to serve the citizens of Montgomery County, Ohio for nearly 13 years since my appointment to the Bench in January, 2011, by Governor Ted Strickland in the waning hours of his administration. Although a trial lawyer for roughly 35 years before taking the Bench, I had much to learn. Especially about the siren’s song of the Executive and Legislative Branches that the Judiciary is on the “Team” when it comes to the interdiction, prosecution and punishment of crime.

The Judiciary IS NOT AND CANNOT BE on the same Team with the Legislative Branch, much less the Executive Branch and its Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutors. And a sentient Judge CANNOT EMBRACE the notion that her job is to ensure “a level playing field” in the trial of criminal matters.

Why?

Because the United States and Ohio Constitutions make it quite clear that the playing field, by design, is NOT level; it is constitutionally slanted in favor of the Accused. Ever notice that the Rights enshrined in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments all run to the Accused and NOT the State?

Socrates articulated that “an unexamined life isn’t worth living.” Singer/ songwriter Don Henley, with whom I share a birthday, echoed Socrates, intoning that “I’m tired of waiting for reason to arrive; It’s too long we’ve been living these unexamined lives.”4

In trying to live an examined life, I have reached the inescapable5 conclusion that the greatest cause of wrongful convictions and imprisonment is trial judges, far too cozy with the State, fancying themselves “crime fighters”, as opposed to independent jurists ensuring an Accused receives ACTUAL, AUTHENTIC, REAL DUE PROCESS, and not something masquerading as such in some court of appeals.

Why?

Who but trial judges, typically affirmed on appeal, are responsible for admitting evidence of junk forensic science, false confession, jailhouse snitch testimony and other evidence born of governmental misconduct? Who but trial judges fail to instruct juries on the frailties of human memory, eyewitness and cross-racial misidentification, and the pitfalls of implicit bias?

Wrongful convictions and resulting imprisonment are a scourge on the

American Criminal Justice System.6 To the end of mitigating their horrors, I commend to your consideration two forthcoming events:

1) On Thursday Evening, January 18, 2024, at the Neon Movies, we will present clips from Amanda Knox’ Netflix Documentary on her wrongful conviction and imprisonment for murder in Italy, Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize winning author for his seminal book: “Devil in the Grove” – Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America”, and Dean Gillispie’s forthcoming documentary on his wrongful conviction in Montgomery County, Ohio and wrongful imprisonment for over 23 years; and

2) On Thursday Evening, February 29, 2024, at the Victoria Theatre we will present “An Evening for Justice” at which Ms. Knox, Mr. King, and Mark Godsey of the Ohio Innocence Project will present live regarding the ongoing nightmare of wrongful conviction and imprisonment. This event will also remember the life and work of Judge Michael W. Krumholtz who died suddenly this past April. Mike’s widow Janis will be my guest at the Victoria that Evening.

The Ohio Innocence Project’s work is funded entirely by charitable donations. Your contribution to “the cause” cannot be more important and essential.

Please consider attending both of these events. Our Finance Committee consisting of Jay Adams of Cicero & Adams, Wray Blattner of Thompson Hine, Jeff Ireland of the Faruki Firm and Walter Reynolds of Porter Wright would be pleased to receive your call supporting this effort. They may call you. Please lend them an empathetic ear.

I truly believe that hardly any of us went to Law School “for the money”. We went to Law School, inspired, perhaps, by a fictional Atticus Finch, or maybe real-life heroes like Clarence Darrow and Gerry Spence. If nothing else, your support and attendance at these events will remind you to live up to your youthful aspirations to pursue a life’s work devoted to the service of others and preserving what remains of a once free people.

Until we meet again on these pages…

ENDNOTES:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo. Alexander Dumas’ tale of wrongful conviction and imprisonment continues to resonate for nearly 180 years.

2. Which is lawyer talk for “perjured”, suborned by the Cleveland Police.

3. Including time on Ohio’s Death Row.

4. And, as you’ve already guessed, I spend a lot more time with Henley than Socrates…

5. For me, anyway…

6. Aptly dubbed the “Punishment Bureaucracy” by Alec Karakatsanis in his excellent book “Usual Cruelty” – The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System.