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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Liam Blake’s misdemeanor convictions do not, by themselves, determine whether he will keep his county job or face discipline as a lawyer.
Blake pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after police said he left the scene of an accident, cleveland.com | The Plain Dealer previously reported.
The plea leaves two separate accountability questions. Ohio employment law governs Blake’s position in the prosecutor’s office, while the state’s attorney-disciplinary system determines whether criminal conduct also warrants action against his law license.
Ohio records show prosecutors convicted of crimes have faced different consequences depending on the offense, whether it was connected to their public duties and other circumstances. Previous cases have resulted in resignation, termination and professional suspensions of varying lengths.
Those cases do not predict what will happen to Blake. They explain the separate systems that now could apply to him.
Employment decisions remain separate
Ohio law allows elected county prosecutors to appoint assistant prosecutors and other employees needed to operate their offices. State law also places assistants to county prosecutors in the unclassified civil service. Neither provision requires automatic dismissal after a misdemeanor conviction.
An Eighth District Court of Appeals calendar listed Blake as one of the lawyers representing the state in a criminal appeal scheduled for July 15, 2026. The calendar was posted June 4 and does not establish whether Blake’s employment status changed after his guilty plea was reported.
The official records reviewed for this story do not document whether Blake has since been suspended, reassigned or terminated.
A separate process governs his law license
Criminal conduct may also lead to professional discipline, although Ohio’s rules do not treat every offense alike.
Rule 8.4 of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits illegal acts that reflect adversely on a lawyer’s honesty or trustworthiness, as well as other conduct that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s fitness to practice.
The rule’s official commentary says some criminal offenses carry no professional implications. It identifies offenses involving violence, dishonesty, breach of trust or serious interference with the administration of justice as conduct that can demonstrate a lack of characteristics relevant to practicing law. Repeated minor offenses also may demonstrate indifference to legal obligations.
Ohio Supreme Court rules provide for an interim suspension when an Ohio lawyer is convicted of a felony or an equivalent offense in another jurisdiction. The provision does not create the same interim-suspension procedure for a misdemeanor conviction.
A misdemeanor may still be examined through the regular grievance system. The Ohio Office of Disciplinary Counsel conducts an initial review and may open an investigation. A formal complaint may be filed with the Board of Professional Conduct when substantial, credible evidence supports a rules violation.
Because investigations are confidential, public records do not reveal whether a grievance or investigation involving Blake exists.
An Ohio crash case produced a stayed suspension
A disciplinary case involving an Ohio lawyer who left an accident scene demonstrates why the full circumstances matter.
According to the Supreme Court of Ohio’s decision in Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association v. Strauss, Marc Ian Strauss rear-ended a parked Beachwood police cruiser on Interstate 271 during snowy conditions on March 2, 2018.
Strauss continued driving, struck a median, abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot. Police later found him walking in a nearby road. A breath test measured his blood alcohol level at 0.148.
Strauss pleaded no contest in January 2019 to six misdemeanors: two counts of operating a vehicle without reasonable control and one count each of resisting arrest, leaving the scene of an accident, unsafe operation near an emergency vehicle and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
He was sentenced that April to 90 days in jail, with 87 days suspended and credit for completing a three-day driver-intervention program. His driver’s license was suspended for two years from the accident date.
The Supreme Court imposed a one-year law-license suspension in April 2021 but stayed it entirely, meaning the suspension would not take effect as long as Strauss committed no further misconduct and complied with his criminal probation.
The ruling addressed Strauss’ entire course of conduct and all six convictions, not the leaving-the-scene offense alone.
Portage County prosecutor resigned after drug conviction
The consequences were different for David William Norris, the elected Portage County prosecutor when a federal court convicted him of misdemeanor cocaine possession on Nov. 18, 1994.
Norris had pleaded guilty. The federal court placed him on probation for two years and fined him $250. Under the plea agreement, Norris resigned as prosecutor and sought drug counseling and rehabilitation, according to the Supreme Court’s decision in Disciplinary Counsel v. Norris.
The Supreme Court suspended Norris from practicing law for two years, with one year stayed. That meant he had to serve one year of the suspension but could avoid the second if he complied with treatment, random drug testing, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and his agreement with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program.
In imposing the sanction, the court emphasized that Norris committed the offense while serving as an elected official whose sworn duties included prosecuting drug crimes.
Former Cuyahoga prosecutor was fired, indefinitely suspended
A more recent Cuyahoga County case involved conduct and a criminal outcome substantially different from Blake’s misdemeanor case.
Joseph Michael Bell joined the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in February 2020 and worked in the child-support unit of its juvenile division, according to the Supreme Court’s decision in Disciplinary Counsel v. Bell.
While at work on July 30, 2021, Bell exchanged messages with an undercover officer he initially believed was a female sex worker. After the officer said she was 15, Bell discussed specific sexual activity, an $80 price and a possible meeting after work. Bell continued messaging after leaving work but did not arrange a location or travel to a meeting.
When the officer contacted Bell again Aug. 5, Bell said the purported 15-year-old was too young for him to do anything with besides talk. The exchange ended without plans to meet.
Bell was arrested at his office and terminated Aug. 20, 2021. He was later indicted on a fifth-degree felony importuning charge but pleaded guilty to an amended fifth-degree felony count of unlawful use of a telecommunications device. He was sentenced to one year of community control.
The Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Bell’s law license in March 2024. He received no credit for the time he had served under an interim felony suspension imposed in June 2022. An indefinite suspension allows a lawyer to seek reinstatement after two years but provides no assurance the license will be restored.
The court said Bell’s employment as a prosecutor, his work involving juvenile matters and the fact that the conduct occurred while he was working increased the seriousness of the professional violation.
The Strauss, Norris and Bell decisions do not establish what will happen to Blake. They show that Ohio examines the complete conduct — the criminal offense, its relationship to an attorney’s public duties and any aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
Blake’s plea resolves the criminal charges described in the original cleveland.com | The Plain Dealer report. The official records reviewed for this story do not establish whether it will produce a separate employment consequence or professional disciplinary action.
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