GCC Prosecutor Forum: Robert Triozzi

ROBERT TRIOZZI

Robert Triozzi has served as the Law Director for the City of Cleveland and a Cleveland Municipal Court judge.

On ensuring juveniles not waive their right to counsel without consulting an attorney: The right to counsel is just so fundamental when you talk about a system that’s fair. You know, I’ve heard all the excuses – it costs too much or all the reasons why they think that the most vulnerable people in our community shouldn’t be afforded this basic right. It’s a false excuse. It’s a false explanation. This is money well spent.

On overcharging:  Justice is not a game and you will never hear me as county prosecutor come and suggest to you that the conviction rate is a measure of what we do and is a measure of successes. Everything that I do – every policy, every program, every decision, including charging decisions – needs to be measured on the extent to which it reduces crime in our communities, the extent to which we are safer as a community.

On racial disparity in incarcerated individuals: You have to recognize the legitimacy of the issue – I will step forward, one, to work with Ed Fitzgerald to work on all those external issues that give rise to this problem … The second piece is what you do as county prosecutor to ensure any of our decisions are contributing to this problem. All of these decision points have to be evaluated to see if any single point, any single decision point have an impact making this problem worse.

On diversion for adults and juveniles: If there was ever a question in my wheelhouse, this is it. This is something that we need to do, it works, it is doing justice by people … When I am county prosecutor it will be sustained. It will be consistent. It will be available to all citizens across this county.

Quotable: You can count on me to be the leader that we need at this time in this county.

Closing: I was honored to receive Mayor Jackson’s endorsement. I was very honored and grateful when the Citizens League recognized my organizational, my management skills, my leadership skills and endorsed me for this race. I was thrilled on Sunday when the Plain Dealer also recognized my leadership skills as being the right person for this job at this time … but as exciting an energizing as those endorsements can be … talk about a humbling experience when one of your personal heroes [Congressman Louis Stokes] tells you that he knows that he can count on you.

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