In re Disqualification of Saffold

Pfeifer, Acting C J.

{¶ 1} The defendant in the underlying case, Anthony E. Sowell, has been charged with the aggravated murders of 11 women in an 85-count indictment. Sowell faces the possible imposition of the death penalty, and the case has drawn extensive media coverage.

{¶ 2} The issue in this affidavit-of-disqualification proceeding is whether the trial judge presiding over Sowell’s case, Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, should be disqualified from further proceedings based on an appearance of impropriety. During his lengthy tenure on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and the…