EAST CLEVELAND TATTLER

Issue Number 32, J an uar y 2013 Jan anuar uary Send an email to eastc le velandleaks@gmail.com to g et the Tattler emailed to y ou eastcle lev get you

UNCLE TOM
Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson blew a chance to become a hero to Black America when he did not retract his testimony against Joaquin Hicks and expose Bill Mason and Judge Dan Gaul for eliminating black jurors and violating the innocent mans civil rights
By JULINDA MIADOLLA Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson doesnt like to talk about how his testimony helped exCuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason convict Joaquin Hicks and Common Pleas Judge Dan Gaul sentence him to 61 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. He would prefer to act like it never happened. Its generally known that Hicks wrongful conviction was overturned in 2010 when the 8th District Court of Appeals rejected everything Mason and the cops did to prosecute the innocent man. News consumers who followed Hicks trial may remember that appellate judges totally discredited a main witness testimony. Not many people know the discredited witness was Donaldson because the Plain Dealer reporters editors chose not to reveal his connection to Hicks trial until after his conviction was overturned. Donaldsons been a general assignment reporter with the Plain Dealer since 2007. Hes from Youngstown. He bears a scar across his cheek that looks like it could have come from a knife fight. Hes from Yotowns predominantly black east side the hood. Mahoning County court records show Donaldsons had a few brushes with authorities for driving while under suspension. Casual observers describe the squatty-bodied 32-year-old as a short Suge Knight look-alike. Hes married to a physician, wants to be a lawyer and is full of himself. My colleagues were jealous of all the attention I got on national television for the stories I wrote about Anthony Sowells victims, is one of Donaldsons favorite, selfcongratulatory lines when hes on an ego-tripping roll. He seems more than a little bourgeoise pretentious. Other than his education and current job, Donaldsons not much different than Hicks, which is why his testimony against the brother didnt make sense. No part of Donaldsons identification of Hicks was correct, but Mason got the grand jury to indict him anyway. As a Plain Dealer reporter, Donaldson had credibility. Masons entire prosecution was built on exploiting that credibility and on Donaldson being black. If an African American Plain Dealer reporter was testifying against Hicks, to Masons hand-picked majority white jury, the man had to have been guilty. This is where Donaldson blew his opportunity to become a real journalistic hero to Black America. Its no secret to Cuyahoga Countys African American residents that Mason cared more about convictions than justice. The late civil rights attorney Stanley Tolliver often repeated the line that Mason could get the grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. The names of defendants whove had their cases dismissed or convictions overturned are far too numerous to identify in this article. Masons tenure over the county prosecutors office represented a period where even the countys court of common pleas and appellate judges began to question the legitimacy of his administration. Last year Judge Nancy Russo dismissed a complaint that Mason helped East Cleveland cops bring against Mikeela Fitzgerald after two of the citys cops, Matthew Ferrell and Brandon Jackson, fired 18 rounds at her car over a minor traffic violation. Under Mason, East Cleveland cops and those from other county police departments used the prosecutors office to cover-up their civil rights violations with indictments against poor, innocent American citizens. Masons office operated in conspiracy with cops and helped them bring phony charges against otherwise innocent Americans that were designed to pressure them not to file civil lawsuits against the individual officers and the cities they served. Unrepresented and fearful American citizens were asked to sign agreements not to file civil lawsuits in exchange for not being prosecuted. Fitzgerald was unarmed when Ferrell and Jackson tried to murder her. Ferrell testified that he thought Fitzgeralds car shot at him. Russo,

PD REPORTERS FALSE TESTIMONY AGAINST HICKS EXPOSED

REPORTER LACKED THE CHARACTER TO SPEAK UP!

Stan Donaldson

Joaquin Hicks

Bill Mason

Judge Dan Gaul

Black Plain Dealer reporters like Stan Donaldson and Phillip Morris would rather attack other African Americans than the racism in the newsroom of their employer and the abuses coming from racist Democratic politicians like ex-prosecutor William Mason and Common Pleas Judge Dan Gaul. Mason and Gaul lynched Joaquin Hicks in front of Donaldson and he didnt written one word of protest. Donaldson was Masons star witness; and he was wrong.

disgusted, dismissed Mason and East Clevelands criminal charges against her. Ferrells testimony and Masons indictment were just too much for her to stomach. Had Donaldson searched his soul and publicly declared that his identification of the innocent Hicks was wrong, and wrote about the indictment and his discussions with prosecutors and cops who werent certain themselves that they had the right suspect, the resulting articles might have provided insight and opportunity for justiceminded activists to demand accountability from Mason. But Donaldson stuck to his wrong testimony and reacts strongly when criticized as a sell out by his more vociferous critics.

EAST CLEVELAND TA TTLER, NO . 32, JANU AR Y 2013 TATTLER, NO. JANUAR ARY

THE NEWSLETTER FEARED BY THE PLAIN DEALER

Donaldsons friends were drinking and getting high before the murder
Stan Donaldson is in need of a visit from the Drop Squad, said media and government critic Jon Davis. Hes trying to portray himself as something hes not. No brother should have done what that Uncle Tom did to another brother. Eighth District Court of Appeals records from the State v. Hicks trial provides insight as to why Donaldson may have been so stuck on making the innocent American look guilty. No matter how many ways the story is told, Jeremy Pechanec was murdered and Jorey Abley was shot in the back of the head over marijuana weed. Donaldson, a Plain Dealer reporter, was hanging out with his sister and friends who were celebrating Chauna Whitlows birthday and who had been drinking and getting high. Donaldson even invited his boy, former WOIO-TV19 reporter Myrt Price, along for the fun. Pechanec was low on weed and wanted more after he and a guy named DaQuan had gone outside Scorchers to smoke his last joint. DaQuan said he could get Pechanac a quarter ounce for $200 and the victim went outside with his friend Aebly to get $260 out of the ATM so he could buy weed from DaQuan and continue buying drinks with Donaldson, his sister and friends at Scorchers. DaQuan said he would arrange the deal, but instead set up Pechanec to be robbed by Cornelius King, Perry King and Reginald Day. Cornelius testified that he called his younger brother, Ralfael King, 17, to come downtown and bring his gun. It was Ralfael, not Hicks, who murdered Pechanec and put a bullet in the back of Aeblys head. God spared Aeblys life. The only connection to Hicks was that Cleveland detectives Ignatius Nate Sowa and Raymond Diaz pieced together information from Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records showing that the name DaQuan could have sounded like Taa-Rhan, which is Hicks middle name. Theyd been told that DaQuan claimed to have just been released from prison. Appellate records show that none of the witnesses was uncertain that the man whod arranged the weed deal with Pechanec, and who had been drinking with them, was named DaQuan and not Taa-Rhan; but that didnt matter to Mason, the detectives and Donaldson. Sowa and Diaz showed Donaldson Hicks pictures and the Plain Dealer reporter positively identified him as the man he claimed to have asked to leave, but his identification didnt hold up. In a live line-up Donaldson identified another man as being DaQuan, not Hicks. Donaldson identified DaQuan as having pockmarks or bumps around his nose and having hair on his head. Hicks prisoner release photo, taken two days before the shooting, showed him as being smooth-skinned, bald and with a short and groomed beard, not a long un-groomed beard. Even Diaz and Sowa had to admit that Hicks smooth skin wasnt consistent with the description of DaQuan. More to the point, Hicks had 11 witnesses testify to welcoming him home and partying with him the night Pechanac was murdered and Aebly shot. Hed been in prison for 10 years and his mother had died while he was on the inside, Ralfael King innocent man for mass murder with added specifications for being a repeat offender. Donaldson knew this and didnt say or write a word about it. His silence is the reason many older African Americans believe hes not to be trusted. A real brother would have been outraged when he saw how Gaul and Mason were trampling all over Hicks civil rights, Davis said. Donaldson had the power of the pen and wants to be a lawyer. A black man with any sense of racial sensitivity would have said something. That Tom Donaldson said nothing. The Plain Dealer covered the story but didnt identify Donaldson as the states main witness until reporter Patrick ODonnell named him in an article he wrote about the state overturning Hicks conviction. ODonnell wrote that Donaldson refused to discuss details of the case with the newspaper that employed him. Something about his article seemed to express a sense of his own indignation when he highlighted a piece of his coworkers testimony. It reads as follows. Donaldson testified he told police in August that the man with Pechanec had scruffy facial hair and short hair that had stuck out from under a skull cap, along with bumps or a scars on his nose - as if he had been punched in the face. I will never forget that face, Donaldson said in a statement to police, at the time he picked Hicks from a set of photos. In picking a different person from the lineup a month later, Donaldson said he took 20 to 30 minutes to make that choice. Almost a year had passed, he said. It had been some time. I was a little nervous. He said he focused mainly on facial hair and the nose in making his pick. Defense lawyer John Paris had Hicks stand up and pressed Donaldson to point out the nose bumps. Donaldson said he could not see any and that Hicks may have healed. Donaldson colleague Phillip Morris, a Negro reporter Cleveland Challenger publisher Eric Brewer once called Brent Larkins paid coon, wrote a gushy black apology to his white readers about Aebly without ever mentioning his colleague or the injustice that he was helping Mason perpetrate against Hicks. Donaldson is upset at being exposed by the Tattler in its previous editions. Like other Plain Dealer reporters, he thinks Brewer is behind the newsletter and has been calling around town telling people hes going to sue the Cleveland Challenger publisher for Clyde Clodhopper calling him an Uncle Tom. Brewer, who has visited the real Uncle Toms settlement the runaway slave created for other runaways in North Buxton Canada, laughed. The kid probably feels guilty beyond all comprehension. Bibically, I imagine its how Judas must have felt as Stan dreaded the day he might have to defend his cowardice, Brewer said. The only question I raise is why the Plain Dealers editors still view him as a trusted reporter when its obvious his recollection of facts leaves much to be desired. If Stan cant be trusted to identify the right man in a murder trial, how can he be trusted to ensure the accuracy of information in the articles he writes?

Jeremy Pechanec Det. Nate Sowa

Det. Ray Diaz

Jeremy Pechanec was murdered by Ralfael King but Cleveland detectives Ray Diaz and Nate Sowa made information that didnt fit connect the dots to Joaquin Hicks. Every case theyve investigated demands a re-investigation.

leaving him with a $22,000 life insurance policy. Hicks testified that he was with a female friend that night, making love and that hed never been to Scorchers. Jacquelyn Mancuso, a Scorchers server, testified that DaQuan was a regular hustler who hung out around the place sponging off customers. Hicks 10 year stay in prison up until two days before the homicide and shooting made it impossible for him to have been the regular Donaldson identified. Mancuso said during the trial that Hicks was not the guy who arranged for the Kings and Day to rob and murder one victim and to seriously injure another. None of this mattered to Mason, the detectives or Donaldson. The conduct of Masons prosecutor at trial was a reminder of why its good hes now gone. It also shows why the Plain Dealers Donaldson can never be viewed as a real brother or trusted...ever. Masons office made it a point to disqualify African American jurors so as to guarantee that his wrongful prosecution of Hicks would be heard by a majority white jury that he could manipulate against the black defendant. Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul, a Democrat, presided over the court in a manner that made it seem like Hicks was facing a lynch mob since the two victims were white and the perpetrators were all African American. Hicks was originally facing a death penalty sentence, not as the murderer, but as the guy accused of arranging for Pechanec and Aebly to be robed. Masons office charged Hicks with numerous crimes he didnt commit. Hicks was charged with one count of aggravated murder and then another two counts of aggravated murder. He faced two counts of kidnapping and another two counts of aggravated robbery. There was another count of attempted murder, including felony murder with a firearm specification. To top it off Mason got the grand jury to indict the