On November 23, 2014, two African-American teenage males filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center and Hamilton County, Ohio. The plaintiffs, represented by public interest counsel, sought preliminary and permanent injunctive relief. They requested that the Court enjoin the Juvenile Court from arresting and detaining youth without conducting a probable cause hearing. The plaintiffs claimed that the detention of youth after 48 hours without providing a probable cause hearing violates their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The first plaintiff was arrested at school on September 12, 2014, on a charge of aggravated robbery. Based on the victim's description, a warrant was issued, and the plaintiff was taken into custody at the Hamilton County Detention Center. He was in isolation for two days. The Juvenile Court did not make a probable cause determination prior to issuing a warrant for the first plaintiff, nor within 48 hours of detention. The case was continued on October 6, 2014, for a probable cause hearing, which never happened. S.W. had a trial on October 10, 2014, where the case was dismissed on the merits. Although S.W. was released, he never received a probable cause hearing at arrest or during his detention.

The second plaintiff was arrested outside his home on July 8, 2014, by Cincinnati police officers, who did not present an arrest warrant. He was taken to the local police station, interrogated for alleged involvement in a robbery, and taken to the Hamilton County Detention Center on July 9, 2014. He remained incarcerated at the Detention Center from July 8 to July 23, during which time no probable cause determinations in his case occurred.

On December 10, 2014, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Although a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled for March 24, 2015, the parties began settlement negotiations in February 2015 and the hearing was changed to a status conference on settlement progress.

On September 29, 2015, the parties reached an agreement and Judge Susan Dlott approved and adopted an agreed order of dismissal without prejudice. The Hamilton County Juvenile Court agreed to plan, design, and implement a best practice model for processing complaints, issuing arrest warrants, making probable cause determinations, and conducting detention hearings. This included revisions to Rule 38 of the Rules of Practice for Hamilton County Juvenile Court. Additionally, the juvenile court agreed create a new training curriculum to assist clerks in making probable cause determinations. The Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney also agreed to assign an assistant prosecuting attorney to attend detention hearings at the Youth Center.
The case is presumably closed.

Stevin George - 03/12/2015
Eva Richardson - 01/05/2019


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