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The Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary office wants Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes' law license suspended to keep her from hearing any criminal cases until disciplinary charges pending against her are resolved.(Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary office asked the state's top court this week to pull Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes' law license to block her from hearing any criminal cases until disciplinary charges pending against her are resolved.

In an often bluntly worded complaint, the office alleges that Stokes has violated numerous court standards and warns of "serious harm to the public" if she is allowed to resume hearing criminal cases. Therefore, the office filed a motion for an "immediate interim remedial suspension."

"Her refusal to admit any wrongdoing demonstrates that she has no appreciation for the gravity of her actions or their effect on the integrity and the operation of both her courtroom and the Cleveland Municipal Court as a whole," the complaint states.

The disciplinary office, which investigates complaints against lawyers and judges, has been investigating Stokes since 2011, after receiving complaints alleging that she has abused court staff, lawyers and defendants. The office filed a 49-page complaint against Stokes before Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline in October 2013.

Despite the investigation, Stokes' courtroom behavior continued to draw complaints, court records show. This prompted the municipal court's presiding judge, Ron Adrine, in March to bar her from hearing criminal cases, the bulk of cases that come before municipal judges. Stokes, who has been hearing only civil cases since, has been battling Adrine in court to get her criminal docket restored.

Fearing Stokes could soon start hearing criminal cases, the disciplinary office filed its new complaint Tuesday. The complaint cites concerns made in writing by Adrine and others.

"Moreover, Judge Adrine believes that if respondent's criminal docket is restored [Stokes] will feel empowered and emboldened and that her conduct is likely to become even more stringent,'" the complaint says.

Adrine is quoted complaining that Stokes' courtroom behavior has fueled negative media coverage of Cleveland Municipal Court.

"Respondent's conduct is not only inappropriate and inexcusable under any circumstance; it has also 'diminished the way that the public views the court, as a result of routinely negative portrayals of her conduct in the local newspapers and on broadcast and internet media,'" according to the complaint.

Stokes' lawyer could not be reached for comment. Ed Ferenc, a spokesman for municipal court, said Adrine and Stokes couldn't discuss the case. The disciplinary office's original complaint does not force Stokes to step down. It represents the first step in the Ohio Supreme Court's process of evaluating the judge for discipline.

In its latest filing -- which is 335 pages and includes supporting documents and earlier legal responses from Stokes -- the disciplinary office cites examples of alleged misconduct, including these two cases:

* "[Stokes] required one defendant to appear in her courtroom on 19 separate occasions during his three years of probation after a second DUI conviction during his lifetime."

* "Another defendant, after being convicted of DUI for the first time, was terminated from her nursing school program because [Stokes] required her to make multiple eight-hour courtroom appearances in connection with her effort to have her driving privileges restored."

The new complaint also noted that the Cuyahoga County Public Defender is threatening to seek a motion to transfer cases -- and its lawyers -- from Stokes' courtroom if she gets her docket back. The public defender's municipal division represents indigent clients charged with such things as petty theft, assault, DUI, domestic violence and driving under suspension.

The Plain Dealer Publishing Company has previously documented complaints about Stokes that mirror those detailed in the disciplinary office's complaint. The Plain Dealer Publishing Company, for instance, has reported that her courtroom moves too slowly, keeping defendants, lawyers, police and witnesses waiting, which costs the city money. She can't get along with court workers. More than 25 bailiffs have worked for her — so many that the court's administrative judge at one time banned her from hiring any more. She's also made unsubstantiated complaints about court workers. And, in the past, she ordered an excessive number of drug, alcohol and psychiatric tests for defendants.