(Cleveland) – The 78th Graduation Ceremony of the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court, under the direction of Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren C. Moore took place Monday, October 21, 2024 at Moore Counseling Center in Euclid, Ohio.
Contact: Ed Ferenc, Public Information Officer
Cleveland Municipal Court
216 664 6787 / 216 789 2597
ference@cmcoh.org www.cmcoh.org
(Cleveland) – The 78th Graduation Ceremony of the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court, under the direction of Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren C. Moore took place Monday, October 21, 2024 at Moore Counseling Center in Euclid, Ohio.
With 10 graduates, the total number of people who have successfully completed the program since it began in 1998 is now 1,949.
The keynote speaker was Matt Cordle. After a night of drinking in 2013 in Columbus, Ohio, Matt ended up driving the wrong way on a highway and hit another car head-on killing the driver. He promised himself to take full responsibility for the crime and released a video confession with the hope that it would convince others to put down the keys. The entire video can be seen here:
“Don’t make the excuses I made. Make the promise to never drink and drive and post it to social media with #SaveYourVictim.”
Matt served six and a half years in prison and is suspended from driving for the rest of his life.
This graduation was a bitter-sweet moment for Judge Moore since she will be leaving the Court at the end of the year to join the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas bench. Judge Moore reflected on the time she presided over this docket:
Participants in the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court generally spend 12 to 20 months in the program. Longer cases may occur due to the fact that opiate addicts generally need more treatment time. This year, four of the graduates entered the program with felonies, while the others were charged with lesser offenses.
On October 26, 2022, the Greater Cleveland Drug Court was renamed the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court in honor of its founder and former Cleveland Municipal Court judge. Specialized dockets like the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court are dedicated to handling offenses related to substance abuse, and use a combination of techniques for holding the offenders accountable while also addressing the underlying causes of their behavior.