CLEVELAND — Florence Daniels doesn't believe her 15-year-old son should face sentencing on five Cleveland carjackings as an adult in Cuyahoga County Court, and she made a plea to her son to turn himself in to authorities.
News 5 is only releasing the name of her juvenile son, Derrelle Travis, after Daniels asked us to give his name because she thought it would help her emotional message in trying to get him to stop running.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office told News 5 Travis cut off his ankle bracelet and fled custody on April 9, just one day before he was to face 18 to 25 years in prison, as part of a plea agreement in connection with the Dec. 2021 carjackings in Cleveland's Little Italy and Case Western Reserve University neighborhoods.
Daniels believes her son, who committed the crimes when he was 14 years old, was too young to fully comprehend the gravity of the situation when he accepted the plea agreement as an adult, and that fear caused him to make another poor choice in fleeing custody.
“My son, in his heart he’s scared, he’s fearing for his life, he is remorseful and he does know he committed a crime," Daniels said. “My concern is why is he being bound over as an adult, he doesn’t comprehend the severity of the situation, he doesn’t at all. My feelings are my son is being made an example, my thought is it’s unjust.”
Pastors Napoleon Harris and Ryan Wallace with the Greater Cleveland Congregation believe discretionary bind-over of juveniles is an ongoing issue in Cuyahoga County.
“Disproportionately, the children that are bound over are going to be children who are African-American, children who are poor," Harris said. "Children should stay in the juvenile system where they can receive services and we as a community can choose better. We can choose restorative options as opposed to punitive options.”
Wallace said the Greater Cleveland Congregation is hoping to change how discretionary bind-overs are filed by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office and how they are decided upon by county juvenile judges.
“Our data is coming from the State of Ohio, which says Cuyahoga County binds over more children than the next four counties in Ohio combined, and that 94% of those children are Black," Wallace said. “We are here to end discretionary bind-overs in Cuyahoga County and we’re meeting with the prosecutor to see if there are ways that we could partner together to do that.”
Wallace said the Greater Cleveland Congregation believes there are better ways to address juveniles who commit serious crimes.
“We’ve asked the prosecutor, and we plan to ask the judges about the Early Intervention Diversion Center," Wallace said. “When kids are first getting in contact with the justice system, to make sure they’re receiving the services they need so they don’t end up back there. There are plenty of other tools, for instance, blended sentencing, allowing them to serve in the juvenile state system while they’re still children and then assess them when they are adults if their sentence should be transferred to an adult prison.”
Gregory Mussman, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Criminal Division Chief, defended the effort to obtain a plea agreement that has a 15-year-old facing up to 25 years in prison as an adult.
“This individual had an extensive juvenile criminal history. This individual had offenses of violence that he was previously convicted of. In fact, even at the juvenile detention facility he had assaulted another juvenile, in the detention facility, Mussman said. “The State of Ohio files a motion, but the judge has to consider all the relevant facts — the juvenile's criminal history, the juvenile's psychological testing and whether or not they can be rehabilitated.”
Mussman outlined the 11-day crime spree involved in this case.
“This individual carjacked five individuals, five young people on the Case Western University Campus," Mussman said. "There was a student that not only had her car stolen, this individual, after her car was stolen, shot her twice in the stomach almost killing her.”
Mussman also further supported the juvenile judge's decision in this case and made it clear the prosecutor's office did not agree with the personal bond that was issued to Travis in this case. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley told News 5 the escape was totally avoidable.
“In this case, the judge decided the juvenile was not able to be rehabilitated," Mussman said. “We just don’t want anyone to get hurt. Turn yourself in, and then we can deal with everything. At some point, there has to be accountability, and we have to worry about public safety. There are no free passes for violent crime.”
The Greater Cleveland Congregation said it will meet with all six Cuyahoga County Juvenile Judges within the next couple of weeks to discuss the process of how discretionary bind-over of juveniles is determined.
Meanwhile, Pastor Wallace made his own plea in asking Derrelle Travis to turn himself in peacefully.
“We lament the pain and suffering of the victims of this senseless violence. We lament the yoke of injustice that has been upon so many kids in our community," Wallace said. “We want Derrelle to know that we are doing everything we can to get him back safely and peacefully.”
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
