[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO JUDGE CHARLES W. FLEMING

                                 ______


                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 12, 1994

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to a very dear 
friend and distinguished constituent of Ohio's 11th District, who 
recently passed away, the Honorable Judge Charles W. Fleming. Elected 
in 1975, Judge Fleming served a 19-year span on the Cleveland Municipal 
Court earning him the respect and admiration of all who knew him. It 
was a privilege to have known such an outstanding lawyer and such a 
distinguished individual. I would like to take this opportunity to 
share with my colleagues and the Nation some information regarding 
Judge Charles W. Fleming.
  As presiding municipal judge, Charles Fleming displayed sincere 
compassion for the underserved and the less privileged. Having grown up 
in poverty, judge Fleming represented someone who overcame the odds. 
His hard work and persistence in promoting justice and equality won him 
the admiration of many.
    
    
  Mr. Speaker, Judge Fleming began his legal career soon after 
receiving his degree from the John Marshall School of Law. Unable to 
find employment with any major law firms as a black attorney, he and 
now Federal judge, George White, opened their own firm in Cleveland. In 
1961, he became an assistant county prosecutor and later switched to 
defense work in 1968. Prior to becoming a judge, he also taught at Case 
Western University. Judge Fleming served in the municipal court for 14 
years before being elected presiding judge by his colleagues in 1989. 
His leadership in this post was unparalleled. He was also the first 
black president of the Ohio Association of Municipal/County Judges. 
During his lifetime, he also served as a faithful member of both Kappa 
Alpha Psi fraternity and the Prince Hall Masons.
  Mr. Speaker, on the occasion of his passing, we convey our deepest 
sympathy to Judge Fleming's family with whom we join in mourning the 
passing of such a great man. I am honored to share with my colleagues 
an article in the Plain Dealer which further describes the efforts of 
an individual whose contributions to the legal arena and his community 
are unsurpassed. He will be sorely missed by all.
    
    

        Judge Charles Fleming Dies; Was Pioneering Rights Lawyer

                (By Scott Stephens and Mark Hollenhagen)

       Presiding Municipal Judge Charles W. Fleming may have left 
     behind the poverty of E. 21st St. near Central Ave., but 
     friends say his modest upbringing molded him into a 
     compassionate judge.
       A trailblazing civil rights lawyer, former prosecutor and 
     judge for nearly 20 years, Fleming died at 11:55 a.m. 
     yesterday of a heart attack at St. Luke's Medical Center. He 
     had been in critical condition there since a June 18 
     automobile accident in Shaker Heights.
       Fleming, 66, of Cleveland had no heartbeat or pulse after 
     his car struck a tree on S. Woodland Ave. He was revived by 
     paramedics, but he only briefly regained consciousness after 
     the accident.
       Hospital spokeswoman Gina Goodwin said Fleming, with a 
     history of heart problems, had suffered several heart attacks 
     over the weekend.
       Fleming's death marked the end of a colorful and often 
     controversial career that touched five decades, including 
     segregation in the 1950s, the dawn of the civil rights 
     movement in the 1960s and black political empowerment in the 
     1970s. Friends and colleagues said they would mourn his loss.
       ``He never forgot where he came from and always remained 
     very sensitive to the plight of poor people,'' said Stanley 
     E. Tolliver, a fellow lawyer and a friend of more than 35 
     years. ``A giant tree has fallen in the forest of justice.''
       Municipal Judge Mabel M. Jasper, a colleague and friend for 
     30 years, echoed those sentiments: ``He was a drum major for 
     justice, a role model and a champion of the least among us.''
       Fleming, born in Cleveland, received a bachelor's degree 
     from Kent State University and a law degree from John 
     Marshall Law School. By the late 1950s, he and George White, 
     now a federal judge, had opened a law practice on Prospect 
     Ave. near E. 4th St.
       During the 1950s, the city's major law firms would not hire 
     black lawyers. Fleming and a group of young black attorneys, 
     including Tolliver, brothers Carl and Louis Stokes, Merle 
     McCurdy and Granville Bradley loosely banded together to form 
     the John M. Harlan Club.
       The club, which was part professional, part social, was 
     named for the former U.S. Supreme Court justice who was a 
     staunch defender of racial equality. The club chatted up 
     politics and law for hours at Rosie's, a soul food restaurant 
     across from Lakeside Courthouse.
       Fleming, a lifelong Democrat, switched sides of the 
     courtroom in 1961 when he bacame an assistant county 
     prosecutor.
       ``Charlie was a very able and very persuasive lawyer in the 
     courtroom,'' said Rep. Louis Stokes, of Shaker Heights. 
     Stokes, as a former defense attorney, faced Fleming. ``We had 
     some real first-rate trials against one another, but we 
     remained close friends.
       Fleming switched back to defense work in 1968 and made a 
     name for himself when he and Toliver represented Fred Evans, 
     a black nationalist organizer accused of starting the bloody 
     Glenville riot in 1968.
       Fleming raised eyebrows during the trial when he put former 
     County Prosecutor John T. Corrigan--who had also been his 
     boss--on the witness stand and grilled him about witness 
     statements implicating Evans that authorities claimed they 
     had. An all-white jury found Evans guilty of killing three 
     Cleveland policemen and a civilian during the rioting after a 
     trial marked by frequent scuffles and constant tension 
     between police and protesters.
       ``Those were very turbulent times,'' Tolliver recalled. 
     ``The police actually threatened us, and they fired at my 
     house.''
       Fleming was first elected to the Municipal Court in 1975. 
     He was elected to his fourth six-year term last year. His 
     colleagues elected his presiding judge in 1989, and he was 
     the first black president of the Ohio Association of 
     Municipal County Judges.
       As a judge, Fleming did not shy away from controversy. In 
     1982, a fellow judge accused Fleming of promising his 
     colleagues they could increase their staffs if they voted for 
     him for presiding judge.
       But colleagues yesterday remembered Fleming's work in 
     overseeing the computerization of court records and a variety 
     of alternative sentencing programs. ``He was a progressive 
     individual who oversaw many innovative programs in the 
     court,'' said Court Administrator John J. O'Toole, who worked 
     with Fleming for 19 years.
       Before becoming a judge, Fleming taught law at Case Western 
     Reserve University.
       In recent years, Fleming enjoyed spending time with his 
     family and socializing with his friends.
       More often than not, they could be found at Angie's 
     restaurant on E. 52nd St. and Euclid, where pictures of 
     Fleming, Tolliver, the Stokes brothers and other ``Carnegie 
     Roundtable'' members adorn the walls.
       ``He had a terrific sense of humor,'' said Granville 
     Bradley. ``I never saw him angry. He was a fine gentleman.''
       Friends said Fleming was proud that two of his children, 
     Charles E. Fleming, of Cleveland, and Patrice Fleming-
     Squirewell, of Houston, became lawyers.
       Charles E., 31, is an assistant federal public defender in 
     Cleveland. Patrice, 36, is a hearing officer with the Texas 
     Workers Compensation Commission.
       Also surviving are his wife, Norma E.; sons, Reginald, of 
     Cleveland; Carlos A., of Lawrence, Kan., and a stepson, 
     Gerald Lewis, of Houston; a grandchild, Whitney R. 
     Squirewell, of Houston; and a sister.