After years of sharply criticizing defendants, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul himself was last week urged to be punished for his own misbehavior. and suspend his law license for one year for violating a host of judicial rules of code and conduct.
Some of the findings were far more serious: In one case from 2016, he allegedly coerced a guilty plea from a defendant who was later acquitted in a new trial. This isn't the first time Gaul has been reprimanded for his behavior. In 2010 he was given a stayed six-month suspension by the Ohio Supreme Court.Serial, in its third season focusing on Cuyahoga County's criminal justice system,Host Sarah Koenig wondered, given universal agreement that Gaul acts and talks inappropriately, from concocting apparently unconstitutional probation conditions to berating defendants, why he hasn't been held accountable.