Daniel Gaul (born 1953) is an American judge for the
Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...
Common Pleas Court. Gaul was first elected to the court in 1991.
Early life and education
Gaul was born in 1953. Gaul attended
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin is a coeducational, Catholic college-preparatory school in Chardon, Ohio, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame..
Background
The school began as Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls school founded in 1878. The school mo ...
in
Chardon, Ohio
Chardon is a city in and the county seat of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,242 at the 2020 census. After completing high school, Gault attended
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...
, receiving an undergraduate degree in 1977. Gault later attended
Capital University Law School
Capital University Law School is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of law schools, ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest university in Centra ...
and graduated with a
juris doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
in 1981. He was admitted to the
Ohio State Bar Association
The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Ohio. History
OSBA was founded on March 6, 1880 when the Cleveland Bar Association issued a call other Ohio local bar associations to meet at Case Hall in Cle ...
in 1981.
Career
Following his admission to the Ohio State Bar Association in 1981, Gaul began his career in private practice. In 1991, Gaul began serving as a judge for the
Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...
Common Pleas Court.
On October 7, 2010, the
Ohio Supreme Court
The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...
suspended Gaul for threatening to jail a defendant he thought was intimidating an elderly witness. In the 2007 trial, Gaul had threatened to have the witness "bound and gagged" and accused him of crimes including obstruction of justice, kidnapping, and smoking crack. The Ohio Supreme Court stayed the one-year suspension pending good behavior, allowing Gaul to continue working as a judge during the period.
In 2012, Gaul won the general election for the judgeship against Edele Passalacqua with 69.81 percent of the vote.
In 2017, the Eighth District Court of Appeals determined that Gaul had coerced a man, Carlton Heard, into pleading no contest to attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, and other charges related to an October 2015 drive-by shooting. Gaul had sentenced Heard to fourteen years in prison after coercing him into the plea. The Eighth District court overturned Heard's plea and ordered that the case be assigned to a different judge. In the new trial, Heard was acquitted by a jury.
In 2018, Gaul was featured on the true crime podcast '' Serial'', which criticized him for his treatment of Black defendants, including using racial stereotypes, threatening to incarcerate defendants who were on probation for having children out of wedlock, and referring to Black defendants as "brother." Gaul was interviewed by producer
Sarah Koenig
Sarah Koenig (; born July 9, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist, public radio personality, former producer of the television and radio program ''This American Life'', and the host and executive producer of the podcast '' Serial''.
...
and told her that he prefers to give defendants probation so that he has more control and supervision over the defendants who come through his courtroom. On November 6, 2018, Gaul was reelected in Cuyahoga County General Election, receiving 54.7 percent of the vote.
In 2019, the Eighth District Court of Appeals again overturned one of Gaul's decisions after deterining that Gaul improperly questioned a defendant, William Skerkavich Jr., about his juvenile and misdemeanor criminal history. The Eighth District determined that, "Based on the record before this court, we find this to be a clear example of bias and prejudice on the part of the trial court...It is also clear that the trial court abandoned its duty as an impartial factfinder and interrogated appellant on matters, not only inadmissible, but wholly immaterial to the instant case." During the trial, Gaul had asked Skerkavich more than eighty-three questions. The Eighth District Court of Appeals ordered Skerkavich's case to be heard by a different judge at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Gaul was also criticized in August 2019 for granting an early release to an attorney who had sexually abused an eleven-year-old boy.
In March 2021, Gaul threatened to hold the
North Royalton
North Royalton is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland. The population was 31,322 as of the 2020 Census. Originally incorporated as a village in 1927, it achieved the status of city in 1961.
History
North Ro ...
police chief in contempt of court at an early release hearing for a man convicted of attacking a female officer. In December 2021, a thirty-page complaint was filed against Gaul in the Ohio Supreme Court accusing Gault of five instances of misconduct between 2014 and 2020, including coercing a plea, inappropriate communication with an incarcerated defendant, improper questioning, taking the position of biased advocate, and violations to the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct and Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct.