COLUMBUS — A task force studying ways to improve Ohio’s grand jury system Wednesday recommended that county prosecutors be stripped of their power to investigate, and potentially prosecute, fatal use of force by police officers.
The group appointed by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor recommended that the attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation be given exclusive authority to investigate all fatal shootings by police and other officer conduct resulting in deaths, with the attorney general’s office to handle any needed prosecutions.
Ohio’s prosecutors, including Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, generally have maintained their offices have the independence to adequately investigate police use of force with the assistance of grand juries.
“The advantages to granting the Ohio Attorney General’s Office exclusive authority … include the reality that the Attorney General does not have the close working relationship that the local prosecuting attorney has with local law enforcement officers who may be subject to an investigation,” the task force report said.
“This ‘step removed’ from local law enforcement would serve to increase public confidence that decisions on the investigation and, if needed, presentation of a (police lethal use of force) case to a grand jury are being made objectively, impartially, and with great deliberation,” the report said.
Investigations by BCI would ensure uniformity in presentation to grand juries statewide and promote impartiality while increasing public confidence, the report said.
The Task Force to Examine Improvements to the Ohio Grand Jury System called on state lawmakers to change laws to give BCI and the attorney general’s office sole authority in the investigation and, after presentation to grand juries, the potential prosecution of police officers whose illegal use of force results in death.
If enacted, it would be the only criminal matter which BCI and the attorney general’s office directly handle — without a request from local prosecutors and police.
County prosecutors are “in an inherently difficult situation” when they work daily with local police officers, yet are called upon to help determine if one of those officers should be prosecuted for illegal use of force, the report said.
State Rep. Robert Cupp, R-Lima, a task force member and former supreme court justice, generally supported the recommendation, but said the attorney general should not receive automatic jurisdiction in all cases, such as “suicide by cop.”
The report also recommended that some grand jury testimony and evidence – which now is sealed from public view – be released in limited cases to help foster public confidence in grand jury indictment decisions.
The task force was formed to find ways to increase public confidence in the grand jury system following controversial fatal shootings of blacks – including 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland – by white officers.
Some members of a task force on police-community relations appointed by Gov. John Kasich separately had recommended “using an outside prosecutor and an independent special investigation unit to ensure that police-involved uses of deadly force cases are conducted in an unbiased and proper manner.”
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Stephen L. McIntosh served as chairman of the 18-member task force, with Wayne County Prosecutor Daniel R. Lutz as vice chairman.
“The grand jury system has come under intense scrutiny of late because of events in Ohio and across the country,” McIntosh said in a statement. “These events have generated public concern that required us to review the existing system.”
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