Fewer Defendants Miss Cleveland Municipal Court Dates In New Pretrial Program

Cleveland Municipal Court says fewer defendants have been skipping court dates since judges began using a pretrial services program aimed at keeping people out of jail.

Administrative and Presiding Judge Michelle D. Earley said she was pleased that other judges were on board with the program. She said it would ensure that defendants return to court without housing them in the Cuyahoga County Jail.

Since late September of last year, the court has enrolled 521 defendants in Cleveland’s pretrial services program. About 11 percent of them failed to appear at a court hearing.

That’s an improvement over the court’s overall failure-to-appear rate of 30 percent before implementing pretrial services, according to a statistical report released by the court.

Nearly 53 percent of the defendants in the first six months of the program wore GPS monitors, while another 31 percent checked in periodically with the nonprofit Oriana House. Others were required to submit to drug or alcohol testing.

“I think that ensures that the judges are striking a good balance in making the determination of who should be in pretrial services and releasing those people,” Earley said. “And they’re coming back to court, and those cases are being efficiently resolved.”

Judges gave many of them personal bonds, meaning they didn’t have to pay money up front to get out of jail. But Earley said some of the defendants in the program are still receiving money bonds, just lower ones.

“If we thought that a higher bond would be more appropriate to get them to come back to court and to not commit another offense, we’re able to do a lower bond with the combination of the pretrial services,” Earley said.

Earley said the program is available for people charged with misdemeanor offenses of violence. She said court is still gathering data on whether any defendants on pretrial release were arrested on a new charge.

Read the report below. Mobile users can view here.