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Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes plans to fight a recent order barring her from hearing criminal cases.

((Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer))

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes plans to fight Friday's order barring her from hearing criminal cases.

Stokes said in a written statement Sunday night that the order, filed and signed by the municipal court's administrative judge, Ronald Adrine, is "warrantless."

"It is unfortunate that, as a sworn officer of the court, Judge Adrine would continue to try to deny me due process," she writes. She said Adrine's actions are premature because a Supreme Court of Ohio investigation examining her courtroom behavior is not complete. (Her full statement appears below in the window.)

In October, the Supreme Court of Ohio's Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a lengthy complaint against Stokes. The 49-page complaint filed with the court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline charges she abuses court resources, lawyers, court staff and defendants who appear before her. The complaint is based in part on 337 incident reports filed in municipal court against Stokes.

Adrine made the move after receiving 100 additional complaints about the judge since the Disciplinary Counsel started its investigation. The Cuyahoga County Public Defenders office also added pressure last week when it filed a motion to transfer cases -- and its lawyers -- from Stokes' courtroom.

The Disciplinary Counsel complaint also recommended to the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline that Stokes be ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination because she may be "suffering from a mental illness that substantially impairs her ability to perform her duties as a judicial officer."

But Stokes points out for the first time in her statement that a panel reviewing the complaint for the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline has rejected that recommendation. It's not ruled on other aspects of the complaint.

"On February 18, 2014, the Panel denied Disciplinary Counsel's request that I be referred for a psychiatric examination at this time," she writes. "In denying Disciplinary Counsel's request, the Panel stated 'the Relator has presented video and affidavit evidence of Respondent's everyday courtroom activities. This evidence fails to demonstrate conduct indicative of a mental illness as defined in R. C. 5122.01 (A).'"(The panel's full decision appears below.)

Stokes suggests in her statement that panel's decision partially drove Adrine to bar her from hearing criminal cases.

"Perhaps Judge Adrine is disturbed by this action of the Panel and has now decided to go around it," she writes.

Neither Judge Adrine or Judge Stokes are at liberty to discuss this any further than the administrative order or Judge Stokes' response, a court spokesman says.