CLEVELAND, Ohio — Malcolm Hoyle can’t escape the violence of a gun.
He was shot in the face by a Cleveland police officer after a car chase when he was 16. He served eight years for possessing a weapon as a convicted felon. A year out of prison for that crime, he faces a second gun charge. This time, he could serve a decade behind bars if he is convicted.
Hoyle is charged in federal court in Cleveland, where he pleaded not guilty at a hearing earlier this month. A judge will later determine if he’ll remain jailed during the case or be released on bond. cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to his attorney, public defender Carolyn Kucharski, for comment.
Hoyle, 36, of Strongsville, was shot in 2002 by then-Cleveland police officer Matthew Baeppler, the husband of Michelle Baeppler. She is the first assistant U.S. attorney who has led the federal prosecutor’s office in northern Ohio since February.
Michelle Baeppler voluntarily recused herself from the case, according to the office’s spokesman, Dan Ball. Three legal ethics professors said the connection between Michelle Baeppler and Hoyle is not necessarily enough to warrant a conflict of interest, but her decision to recuse herself is the safe choice.
“I don’t think it rises to the level of where the whole office needs to step aside,” said Rebecca Roiphe, an ethics professor at New York Law School. “It’s definitely the type of case where you’d at least want to consult an ethics officer, but I don’t know if it would require the U.S. attorney to step aside. If it did, it might just be something where she steps aside individually.”
Cleveland police arrested Hoyle on Feb. 10 at a home on Niessen Avenue, near West 44th Street, after a person called 911 and said Hoyle was threatening someone and firing a gun in the air. Hoyle unsuccessfully tried to hide a gun after officers arrived. Police later found the gun hidden under a mattress. Hoyle denied owning the gun or threatening anyone, according to police reports.
The gun had been reported stolen from a car parked at the Medusa Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Cleveland, according to police reports.
Federal prosecutors have wide discretion on whether to leave a gun possession case in state court or prosecute it in federal court.
Cleveland city prosecutors initially charged Hoyle with the state crime— called weapons under disability, a term used to describe a felon in possession of a gun. Cuyahoga County prosecutors handled the case until late September, when the charges were dropped.
Michelle Baeppler’s office picked up the case and charged him earlier this year. Under state law, Hoyle would have faced a maximum of three years in prison. Under federal law, he could get up to 10 years.
“The reason she might recuse herself is just the appearance that she had some kind of role in making any decisions, whether or not that’s true,” said Bruce Green, an ethics professor at Fordham Law School. “Someone else is probably overseeing it anyway.”
Hoyle in 2002 was driving a stolen car with a friend, Ricardo Mason, in the passenger seat when Matthew Baeppler and his partner, Robert Taylor, spotted the vehicle.
Hoyle sped away from the officers and crashed into a fence following a chase. Hoyle tried to put the car in reverse and back up after the officers got out of their cruiser.
Matthew Baeppler shot Hoyle in the face, and Taylor shot and killed Mason. Neither officer was disciplined for the shooting, and a grand jury declined charges against the officers.
Mason’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city for $1 million. Hoyle sued the city and Matthew Baeppler, but the case was ultimately dismissed. Matthew Baeppler retired from the police department in October 2020.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Hoyle for involuntary manslaughter because his actions led to the shooting death of his friend. Hoyle pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to six years on probation. The judge at the time, Ann Mannen, opted against prison because she said she didn’t want to “create a career criminal.”
Hoyle was later convicted of attempted felonious assault in a 2005 case in which he was accused of hitting someone with a pool cue. He also was convicted in several drug possession cases.
Federal prosecutors charged him in 2008 for possessing a weapon with a felony record, and U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi sentenced him to 15 years in prison, in part because he fit the definition of an “armed career criminal,” someone with three violent felonies on his or her record.
The U.S. Supreme Court later clarified what counted as a violent offense, and Hoyle’s involuntary manslaughter conviction fell outside that definition. Lioi lowered his sentence to eight years in prison, and Hoyle was released in 2021.
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