This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project - Cleveland, a nonprofit news team covering Ohio’s criminal justice systems. Sign up for The Marshall Project’s Cleveland newsletter, and follow them on Instagram, Reddit and YouTube.
Last week, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles removed thousands of license suspensions from the records of drivers with unpaid fines and fees.
At the time, many local courts were still working through lists of suspensions to confirm which ones should be removed under the law.
As of May 8, 327 of 461 courts had completed the process. If a court didn’t respond, the state terminated any open forfeiture suspensions on the list on May 9, spokesperson Lindsey Bohrer told The Marshall Project – Cleveland.
More than a year of reporting by News 5 Investigator Tara Morgan and Mark Puente with the Marshall Project-Cleveland captured the attention of lawmakers, bringing on some of the changes:
RELATED: Check your BMV record: New Ohio law now in effect eliminates some debt-related suspensions
The new law, however, has led to confusion for courts and frustration for some drivers.
Drivers who wrote in to The Marshall Project – Cleveland said they were confused about the process and, in some cases, got conflicting answers when calling the BMV or courts about whether their suspensions would be removed.
Cleveland Municipal Court Administrative Judge Michelle Earley said lifting suspensions was good for Cleveland and its residents.
“It may be a lot of work, but it is a good thing to not strap people who can’t pay,” Earley said.
Cleveland’s court, however, had no license suspension removed under the law.
According to the state, it didn’t have any eligible suspensions.
The court did not respond to specific questions, but attorneys and public defenders said the court has not used forfeiture suspensions in years.
Instead, it uses what are called registration blocks, which prevent a person from registering a vehicle or renewing a registration.
Under the law, registration blocks related to unpaid fines and fines are eligible to be removed.
But state officials said Cleveland’s court issued registration blocks that are not covered by the new statute.
The Cleveland Municipal Court Clerk’s Office didn't respond to multiple calls and emails about how many it might remove.
Garfield Heights Municipal Court Judge Deborah Nicastro said her court had worked its way through more than 1,000 suspensions and that people could check the court’s docket to see if their suspension had been canceled.
Shaker Heights Municipal Court had only recently started using suspensions before the law was passed, so it only had about 400, Clerk Steven Tomaszewski said.
Rocky River Municipal Court Clerk Deborah Comery said the court has more than 2,000 cases to work through.
Comery, who has been with the court for 30 years and clerk for 18, was critical of the new law, saying it “ties the hands of the courts and the judges” in the effort to hold people accountable.
“We have a whole societal approach of, ‘Awww. That’s not fair.’”
