LIMA — A judge assigned to a case in which a black man who received 25 years in prison accused a local judge of unfairly sentencing black defendants rejected the argument, saying claims made were invalid.
Judge Frederick McDonald of Lucas County was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to consider the case of claims of racial bias during sentencing against Allen County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Reed.
A defendant is required when alleging an equal protection violation based on race to establish there was proof of purposeful discrimination and that discrimination had an effect on the case.
“He cites nothing in the lengthy record of this case to establish that racial considerations affected the sentence,” McDonald said in his ruling.
Demond Liles, through his attorney, Ken Rexford, said Reed gave black defendants significantly more time than white defendants in drug trafficking and felonious assault cases. He compared Reed’s sentences to retired Judge Richard Warren over the same time frame from 2008 through 2014.
Liles, 47, requested a new trial or to be resentenced by a judge other than Reed who gave Liles 25 years in prison, of which 24 were mandatory on the charges Liles entered a voluntary plea.
Rexford said he doesn’t agree with the judge’s ruling and said the law cited makes it impossible to meet the requirements for a new trial or sentencing hearing. He said he will recommend an appeal to Liles.
“What this amounts to … is that the rules not being enacted have created a de facto shield protecting judges from legitimate claims of discriminatory sentencing,” Rexford said.
He said the law the judge considered requires up to 2,000 cases to be studied.
“No judge on the planet handles 2,000 cases of a similar type,” he said. “They have made it impossible to ever challenge sentencing disparity.”
McDonald ruled Rexford did not follow proper procedures to authenticate the records such as sworn statements from officials with the state prison. He also did not have an expert in statistical analysis to support his study, the judge ruled.
The judge said the claims could be dismissed on those issues alone, however, further said even if the records submitted by Rexford were admissible his claims still failed based on U.S. Supreme Court and Ohio Supreme Court case law.
He also found issue with the method of the study saying Rexford looked at only 12 cases Judge Reed handled of which seven involved black men and five involved white men. The cases Rexford reviewed that Judge Warren handled were 11 black men, one black woman, one white man and three white women, McDonald said in his ruling.
McDonald also pointed out Rexford, in his own motion seeking a new trial or resentencing, said statistics can be misleading, many factors go into a sentencing determination and each case is unique.
Liles was charged with 15 criminal offenses — all drug charges — but agreed to plead guilty to four counts of trafficking in cocaine with a vehicle forfeiture. One of the charges had a major drug offender specification. Two of the charges were first-degree felonies, one was a second-degree felony and the last was a fourth-degree felony. Prosecutors dismissed the other 11 charges in exchange for the plea.
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