Michael Nelson Credit: Twitter.com: @MNelsonNAACP
Days before the 2017 general election, reports emerged of allegations that Michael Nelson, the former NAACP Cleveland chapter president and candidate for a judicial seat on the Cleveland Municipal Court, had raped a 46-year-old woman, a former romantic partner. Her police report chronicled a violent October assault.

Despite the publication of the report, Nelson went on to win his race, unseating incumbent Michael Sliwinski. Sliwinski was adamant, in conversations with Scene, that neither he nor his team had unearthed the rape allegations, or pushed them to the media, as part of opposition research. Nelson began his term in January.

Last week, it was reported that a Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to pursue charges against Nelson. It’s unclear when this “no-bill” was handed down, but the grand jury made its decision following an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who took over the case from the Cleveland Police Department in December.

At that time, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office handed the case off to its counterpart in Summit County. According to a spokesperson in the Cuyahoga County office, a special prosecutor was appointed in Summit County, but the case was presented in Cuyahoga.

Back in November, Nelson had called the rape accusations a “political hit.” The police reports, however, describe the assault in detail (though key fragments were redacted). They also describe pressure on the accuser to remain silent applied by Nelson himself, his wife, and members of his church.

Know more? Get in touch: sallard@clevescene.com.

This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2018.

Sam Allard is a former senior writer at Scene.

3 replies on “Grand Jury Won’t Pursue Rape Charges Against Sitting Muni Court Judge Michael Nelson”

  1. Sam, what report were you reading? Nowhere was it reported that anybody made an effort to silence anybody. Plus your report on Sliwinski is just rag journalism. Sounds like you have personal issues with both Nelson and Sliwinski. By the way youre developing a reputation for making up facts to fit your stories.

  2. Sam, Sam, once again youre making up facts to fit your story. Youre developing a reputation. I guess Eric Brewer will have to give you another lesson in journalism integrity. There was no police report or news story that talked about anyone trying to silence Nelsons accuser. Nelson respone that this was a political hit AND that he had not seen the woman in October (or September or November). You left that out.
    As for Sliwinski, who knows? Maybe you should dig deeper into that.

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