Parma Safety Director and former Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley has officially launched his campaign to unseat incumbent Prosecutor Tim McGinty. They’ll face-off in the March Democratic primary. O’Malley says he wants to restore public confidence in the office that he says McGinty has lost, especially with his handling of the Tamir Rice case. WKSU’s Kevin Niedermier reports.
O’Malley says he would restore confidence by seeking fair and impartial justice, and by keeping politics out of the prosecutor’s office, something he accuses McGinty of doing with the Rice grand jury case. And O’Malley hinted that grand jury reform is on his agenda.
“Without taking the wings off of next week’s press conference, I think other states have begun the process of examining that issue. Certainly other investigative agencies can always be brought in, but I can tell you that certainly State Senator Sandra Williams has introduced a bill. But there’s things that can be done to restore some confidence in that process.
O’Malley says the first thing he will do if elected is reestablish the community-based prosecution he started when he was in the office. It included having a prosecutor’s office in neighborhoods, and holding community meetings to discuss cases and how the office works.
