Cleveland is given probation in assault
He appeals for mercy
March 30, 2001
Detroit Free Press
Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland told a Wayne County judge Thursday that two years' probation for pushing his wife was too severe a punishment for a man his age. "I think two years is too long," Cleveland said. "I'm 66 years old and I doubt if I'll live much longer." Still, Wayne County Circuit Judge Karen Fort Hood stuck to Cleveland's plea agreement and sentenced him to two...
Cleveland hosptialized after crash
March 22, 2001
Detroit News
DETROIT -- Longtime City Councilman Clyde Cleveland was listed in stable condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital after he apparently caused a four-car accident Wednesday. About 1:20 p.m., Cleveland was leaving a parking lot of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center when his city-owned car had a problem with the throttle, police said. The councilman's car hit two cars in the lot, one on the westbound side of Jefferson and another on the eastbound side, before it came to a halt.
Clyde Cleveland based on what he admitted, he should step down
March 2, 2001
Detroit Free Press
When Clyde Cleveland admitted to beating his wife, he also trampled many of the values he stood up for as a civil rights activist and member of the Detroit City Council. He surrendered any claim to public leadership and should now surrender his council seat. No one but Cleveland and his wife knows exactly what happened between them on Dec. 3, but what Cleveland confessed to in a plea deal is stomach-turning stuff. At a preliminary hearing, Cleveland's wife testified that...
Councilman admits assault, gets probation
Cleveland's wife says best part of deal is mandatory counseliong
February 16, 2001
Detroit Free Press
Veteran Detroit Councilman Clyde Cleveland won't go to jail or lose his $81,000-a-year job after admitting Thursday that he assaulted his wife when he pushed her against a wall and bloodied her face. Still, his wife, Mary -- who said Cleveland kicked her down the stairs, hit her in the head with a remote control and in the face with a gun -- said she would be willing to take back the man she says has beat her for many years. "I leave the ball in my...
Clyde Cleveland may get plea deal to avoid a trial
February 15, 2001
Detroit News
DETROIT -- A special prosecutor planned to offer a plea bargain to Detroit Councilman Clyde Cleveland today in a bid to avoid a trial on three felony charges. "I'm prepared to negotiate a resolution to this matter on terms that make maximum sense," said Justin Ravitz, a former Recorder's Court judge who was appointed as a special prosecutor. "If we can put this to bed without a trial, I'm quite comfortable with...
Jesse Jackson, Clyde Cleveland likely to overcome shame and scandal
January 22, 2001
Detroit News
Herewith my prediction about where Chicago-based Rev. Jesse Jackson and Detroit Councilman Clyde Cleveland go from here. Both men will have their hands full over the next few months, ducking and dodging the storms of criticism that have been generated by Jackson's paternity case and the multiple spousal assault charges against Cleveland. These are high-profile, low-life beefs that ought to engender scorn and derision. But when it all chills out and the legal problems are settled...
Picking Ravitz to try Cleveland in spousal abuse case makes sense
January 19, 2001
Detroit News
New Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan didn't want anything to do with the high-profile political hot potato. Oakland County Prosecutor Dave Gorcyca offered to take it off Duggan's hands, but Wayne Circuit Judge Karen Fort Hood wouldn't toss it to him. So it falls to Justin C. 'Chuck' Ravitz, who in more than 30 years as a criminal court judge and defense attorney never has been a prosecutor, to press the case of the People vs. Clyde...
Ravitz receives Cleveland case
January 17, 2001
Detroit News
DETROIT -- A special prosecutor was appointed Tuesday to handle the assault case of Detroit Councilman Clyde Cleveland. Wayne Circuit Judge Karen Fort Hood appointed Justin Ravitz to prosecute Cleveland. It's unknown if Ravitz, a former Detroit Recorder's Court judge, has agreed to take the case. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday. In appointing Ravitz, Judge Hood rejected a request by the Wayne County prosecutor's office to appoint the Oakland County...
Special Prosecutor named for Cleveland assault trial
Wayne County office is excused from case
January 17, 2001
Detroit Free Press
Former Detroit Recorder's Court Judge Justin Ravitz will take on a Detroit city councilman in a high-profile domestic violence case even though he's never served as prosecutor. On Tuesday, Judge Karen Fort Hood disqualified the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, at its request, from the Clyde Cleveland case and appointed Ravitz as special prosecutor. In his days on the bench, Ravitz had a reputation as a radical who wore blue jeans and cowboy boots...
Oakland may prosecute Cleveland
January 4, 2001
Detroit News
PONTIAC -- Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said he was asked 10 days ago by then Wayne County Prosecutor-elect Michael Duggan if his office would agree to take over the prosecution of Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland, who is charged with pistol-whipping his wife. "I agreed to assume the prosecution," Gorcyca said. "Mike said he didn't want to appear vindictive. This is a professional courtesy." With Gorcyca's...
Cleveland attorney denies plea offer
Abuse prosecutors say it didn't include jail
January 4, 2001
Detroit Free Press
Wayne County prosecutors said they offered Clyde Cleveland a plea agreement that would have kept the longtime Detroit councilman out of jail after charges were filed that he kicked his wife and pistol-whipped her in the face. The offer was not accepted, Wayne County prosecutors said. But Cleveland's attorney, Ralph Richardson, said no plea offer was ever made. "That is totally false," he said. "There was no plea offer."...
Cleveland ordered to stand trial
December 22, 2000
Detroit News
DETROIT -- Councilman Clyde Cleveland was ordered to stand trial Thursday on three felony charges after his wife testified he repeatedly kicked and beat her earlier this month and called her "an indentured servant" for years. Mary Cleveland said her husband struck her with a television remote control and twice with a .38 caliber pistol after the two fought over her request to go out to eat after church. Clyde Cleveland remains free on $500 bond after 36th District Judge...
'He said...I was his slave'
Councilman's wife testifies how he abused, kicked, and beat her
December 22, 2000
Detroit Free Press
Mary Cleveland testified in a packed but silent courtroom Thursday that her husband, Clyde Cleveland, called her his slave -- the woman whose job was to cook, clean and do his laundry. She said she spent every day making sure he was content. That was the context, she testified, when her frustration boiled over Dec. 3 after the longtime Detroit City Council member refused to take her to lunch. She told him she was done being his slave and threatened that if he put his shirts or ...
Fighting domestic abuse
December 10, 2000
Detroit News
Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland has been arraigned on charges of assault, illegal use of a firearm and aggravated domestic violence. The charges were filed by his wife of 16 years. The long-serving city politician is, of course, entitled to a presumption of innocence. It is up to the legal system to assess the facts in Mr. Cleveland's particular case. Apart from his case, however, it is worth noting that domestic violence remains a consistent risk for women -- and...
Cleveland Case: Judge Atkins shouldn't try to protect defendant
December 8, 2000
Detroit Free Press
Marylin Atkins, chief judge of 36th District Court in Detroit, is known as a fair and responsible jurist. So it is distressing that she would brazenly hide the arraignment of a public official in a bait-and-switch move with the media, circumventing the law that requires court arraignments to be open to the public. Court officials told reporters and photographers to set up in the regular arraignment room even as Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland was appearing before a magistrate...
Councilman arraigned, surrenders gun
December 7, 2000
Detroit News
DETROIT -- City Councilman Clyde Cleveland surrendered his handgun and concealed-weapons permit Wednesday after he was arraigned on a felonious assault charge. In an unusual move, the arraignment was quietly shifted by Chief Judge Marilyn Atkins to another magistrate to avoid reporters and photographers. Journalists had been repeatedly told the arraignment would take place at noon. Shortly after 12 p.m., a court clerk said Cleveland's arraignment had already taken place in...
Reporters deflected from Cleveland's hearing
December 7, 2000
Detroit Free Press
The arraignment of veteran Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland, accused of beating his wife in the face with a gun, occurred without a reporter or camera in the courtroom Wednesday. That's because all the reporters and camera crews were in the wrong courtroom -- the one where court officials had said Cleveland would be arraigned. The judge who ordered the switch, 36th District Court Chief Judge Marylin Atkins, insisted she wasn't trying to protect...
Councilman's spouse alleges years of abuse
December 7, 2000
Detroit Free Press
Mary Cleveland, the wife of Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland, has told authorities that he began abusing her soon after they married in 1984 and that he took medication in an attempt to curb his anger. In a sworn statement filed when she sought a personal-protection order this week, Mary Cleveland said she feared that her life was in danger. The abuse, she said, culminated Sunday when her husband kicked her down a stairway at their home and pistol-whipped her across the face...
Cleveland may avoid mandatory sentence
December 06, 2000
Detroit News
DETROIT -- If Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland had been charged with a felony firearm offense 3 1/2 weeks from now in Wayne County, he would face a mandatory two years under a new no-plea-bargain policy. "Anybody charged after Jan. 1 with felony firearm is not going to get a plea bargain," incoming Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan said Tuesday. Duggan would not comment specifically on Cleveland's case, saying he was unaware of the details...
Cleveland booked on assault charge
December 6, 2000
Detroit News
DETROIT -- During almost three decades in public life, Clyde Cleveland seemed to many Detroiters to be charming and erudite. He often wears frumpy suits, bow ties and bifocals, looking like an agitated professor. He enjoys quoting Shakespeare and has been known to lecture his baffled council colleagues on the merits of the Roman Republic. But Cleveland, now 65, also could be -- as city employees, other politicians and even his wife now attest -- an unpredictable personality prone to violent...
Councilman to be arraigned
Cleveland's wife said he beat her
December 6, 2000
Detroit Free Press
Veteran Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland is to be arraigned today on felony charges that he beat and pistol-whipped his wife, Wayne County prosecutors said Tuesday. Cleveland, 65, turned himself in to Detroit Police Internal Affairs investigators Tuesday morning after a warrant was issued charging Cleveland with felonious assault, aggravated domestic violence and committing a felony with a gun. If convicted, Cleveland could not remain in the City Council seat he's...
Detroit councilman accused of spousal abuse
December 5, 2000
Detroit News
DETROIT -- Clyde Cleveland, a fixture on the City Council for the past 27 years, could be arraigned today on assault charges after his wife told police he kicked her down their stairway and hit her twice with a gun Sunday. "I'm not going to rest until they have him behind bars or whatever they are going to do," said Mary Cleveland, 51, who has been married to the councilman since 1984. "I'm tired of being scared. I don't...
Official's wife reports assault
She says Detroit Councilman pistol-whipped her
December 5, 2000
Detroit Free Press
The wife of veteran Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland met with prosecutors Monday after telling police that he had kicked and pistol-whipped her a day earlier after she joked about cutting up some of his shirts. Mary Cleveland, 51, told police she was repeatedly assaulted by Cleveland, 65, on Sunday morning in their home, in the 18000 block of Fairfield near the University of Detroit Mercy. She drove herself to the 12th (Palmer Park) Precinct around noon Sunday, where she filed a....
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