Cleveland Prosecutor, Criticized for Clearing Cop Who Killed Tamir Rice, Defeated in Primary

By Sameer Rao Mar 16, 2016

Anita Alvarez wasn’t the only prosecutor to lose an election on the back of controversial choices in police violence cases. Cleveland prosecutor Timothy McGinty—widely condemned for mishandling the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann—also lost his bid for re-election during yesterday’s (March 15) Democratic primary. 

According to Cleveland Scene, McGinty lost the election for Cuyahoga County prosecutor to challenger Mike O’Malley by about 18,000 votes. O’Malley won 55.4 percent of the votes to McGinty’s 44.6 percent. With no non-Democratic challenger, O’Malley is essentially assured to fill the position. McGinty, who served only one term in his position, did not mention Rice by name in his concession speech.

McGinty received tremendous criticism and calls for his resignation for his role in the Tamir Rice case. He pushed for the acquittal of officers Loehmann and Frank Garmback for killing Rice, apparently withheld information about grand jury proceedings from Rice’s family and publicly questioned their motive for seeking justice. Rice’s mother Samaria has called out McGinty several times, most recently in a statement about why she wasn’t endorsing any political candidates, saying, "After Tamir’s death, the county prosecutor, Timothy McGinty, an elected official responsible for seeking justice for Tamir, instead blamed my 12-year-old boy for his own death."

(H/t Cleveland Scene, Raw Story, New York Daily News, WKYC