Judicial Discipline

Disciplinary Counsel v. Judge Daniel Gaul, Case no. 2010-0062

Cuyahoga County

The Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline has recommended that the license of Judge Daniel Gaul of the Cuyahoga County Count of Common Pleas be suspended for one year, with the entire term of suspension stayed, for engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in a criminal case before his court. The board also found that Gaul had called into question his own impartiality and the fairness and impartiality of the judicial process by improperly initiating an "Amber Alert" for two witnesses who had failed to appear for a scheduled trial in his court, and by making public statements in court and during an in-chambers meeting with the news media in which he accused the defendant of intimidating or interfering with the missing witnesses when there was no admissible evidence in the record to support those assertions.