Cronin finishes her stay in jail
A lawyer said new offenders are
being jailed before those on a
waiting list.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN — While 271 other drunken-driving convicts wait to serve their jail time, a retired judge jumped to the head of the line and did her five days.
Maureen A. Cronin, 54, of Canfield Road reported to the misdemeanant jail at 6:47 a.m. Friday and was released at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday, a jail official said. On Sept. 12, the former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle impaired in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield. It was her second OVI conviction.
Judge Scott D. Hunter sentenced Cronin to 18 days’ electronically monitored house arrest to begin immediately, expecting it to commence the following day, Sept. 13. At some point after alcohol assessment, he ordered Cronin to serve five days in jail.
“It was a direct order from Judge Hunter that she be incarcerated that date, which was the 14th,” Sheriff Randall A. Wellington said Wednesday, explaining why Cronin went ahead of 271 others who have been waiting.
Judge Hunter vehemently denied that he ordered the sheriff to put Cronin in jail ahead of others on the waiting list.
The judge pointed out that his judgment entry lists no specific date for when jail time should begin.
Calls made
The judge, after speaking to a reporter, called the sheriff. He said the sheriff apologized and explained that he thought the judgment order had a specific date.
The Vindicator then called Wellington again to clarify his first response. He said he incarcerated Cronin based on a commitment order from the court and faxed a copy to the newspaper. The document was signed Sept. 13 by a deputy clerk of court and shows the “in jail” date to begin Sept. 14.
Judge Hunter, who anticipated that might be Wellington’s response, pointed out the sheriff cannot accept an inmate to serve a sentence without a commitment order but stressed that judges have nothing to do with the paperwork.
The judge said such orders are a function of the clerk of court, based on a sentence imposed. He said he never saw Cronin’s commitment order, had no reason to see it, or to put an “in jail” date on it or to sign it.
Cronin’s Youngstown attorney, Scott R. Cochran, said he asked that the commitment papers be drawn. Even though the judge did not specify when the jail time had to be served, Cochran said he believed it had to be served within the next 30 days.
Cochran said his client is trying to accept responsibility for what she did and completing the jail sentence was nothing more than getting it out of the way before pursuing alcohol treatment.
“It would have been my preference that she would have been 272 on the list,” Cochran said. “Some of those on the old list may be mad because someone got to serve right away but others may think they never have to serve.”
He said it is his understanding that new OVI offenders will serve their sentence at the recently reopened misdemeanant jail before the 271 on the waiting list, some of whom have been on it a year or more.
No objection
Judge Hunter said he didn’t object when told informally last week by Nicholas Modarelli, an assistant prosecutor, that Cochran and sheriff’s Maj. James M. Lewandowski, jail warden, discussed having Cronin serve her jail time — because there was space available — before her house arrest.
The judge recalled being informed of the plan later the same day Cronin appeared in court to plead and be sentenced.
Lewandowski could not be reached.
Judge Hunter said he didn’t know Cronin had been in jail until Tuesday, when it was mentioned at a funeral he attended. “I never instructed anyone that she serve ahead of anyone else,” he added.
The 96-bed misdemeanant jail on Commerce Street, which incarcerates nonviolent offenders, typically those convicted of OVI, opened about a month ago after being mothballed for more than two years in a budget crunch.
In March 2005, inmates won a class-action federal lawsuit over crowded conditions and jail staffing. As a result, the main jail population was reduced and the misdemeanant jail closed. The main jail on Fifth Avenue, fully open again, continues to release inmates on furlough or court summons to control population.
Yellow plates ordered
The balance of Cronin’s sentence, meanwhile, includes yellow license plates that signify a multiple OVI offender. She’ll also have an ignition interlock device on her dashboard that will measure her alcohol concentration when she blows into it. If the reading is acceptable, the car will start.
If Cronin violates her one-year probation, Judge Hunter can impose the 157 jail days he suspended. Cronin’s car is immobilized for 90 days and her driver’s license is suspended for one year with occupational driving privileges.
When arrested Sept. 5 on state Route 11 in Beaver Township, Cronin refused to submit to a sobriety test.
She also refused to have her blood-alcohol concentration tested in 2005. She was still on the Mahoning County Common Pleas bench at the time. She retired in July after serving 13 years.
meade@vindy.com