Paper: Judge’s account linked to online posts

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Anonymous comments about a murder suspect’s case were posted on a newspaper Web site from the personal e-mail account of the trial judge, the newspaper reported Friday.

The Plain Dealer said the comments were posted under news stories and blog entries on its companion Web site, cleveland.com, and came from the America Online account of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold.

Saffold told the newspaper she didn’t post the items. Her daughter, Sydney Saffold, identified herself to the newspaper as the writer.

The newspaper said it checked into the source of the posts because one of them challenged the mental health of a person related to a reporter.

The judge could not be reached to comment Friday by The Associated Press. A message was left at her courthouse office.

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