SHERIFF'S SON DROPPED FROM TRIAL ON SUSPICION OF NEW DRUG ABUSE

Suspicions about drug abuse have again brought shame to attorney Kevin
McFaul, son of the Cuyahoga County sheriff.

Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold removed McFaul as a defense
lawyer in an aggravated-murder trial Tuesday, accusing him of being high on
drugs.

McFaul acquiesced without protest, said Saffold, who called his situation
"tragic."

"I just hope he gets it straightened out," she said Wednesday.

Saffold ousted McFaul, 47, during a meeting in her chambers shortly after
she had sworn in a jury to hear the case against Frederick Talley of
Cleveland. The judge then allowed lead defense counsel David Grant to pick
a new co-counsel and delayed opening statements in the case until Monday.

Grant and Saffold said Talley agreed to waive the issue of inadequate
representation. "His rights are being protected," Grant said. "He's still
going to get an effective defense."

Talley, 44, is accused of shooting his uncle, 46-year-old Lindell Benson,
to death during an argument on June 7.

Saffold heard "from a reliable source" that McFaul was abusing drugs, she
said, and saw signs during two days of jury selection and preliminary
matters at Talley's trial. The attorney, she said, is talented, but is an
addict who needs help.

McFaul couldn't be reached to comment. Fellow lawyer Mark Rudy, said
friends were trying Wednesday afternoon to get McFaul into drug treatment.

He's been there before. His father, Sheriff Gerald McFaul, ordered
sheriff's deputies to arrest his son for cocaine possession in 2002 after
informants told detectives about his heavy drug abuse. Rudy got the charges
dropped in exchange for Kevin McFaul entering a rehab program for
first-time offenders.

The sheriff said his son stayed clean and was doing well until about seven
months ago, when he began drinking and severed contact with his parents.
The sheriff knew a drug relapse would soon follow, he said, and lost hope.

"Am I disappointed? Yes," he said. "Am I shocked? God, no."