The Ohio Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday from Tracie Hunter about a disciplinary board’s recommendation to indefinitely suspend her from practicing law.
In April, more than eight years after the onetime Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge was convicted of a felony charge, the state Board of Professional Conduct recommended the indefinite suspension.
The case will be heard by Justices Sharon Kennedy, Patrick Fischer, Michael Donnelly, Melody Stewart and Jennifer Brunner, as well as two state appeals court judges.
Justice Joe Deters, who before he was appointed to the court last year was Hamilton County’s longtime elected prosecutor, has recused himself. Deters repeatedly clashed with Hunter when she was on the bench as well as after her conviction. Justice Pat DeWine also has recused himself.
The appeals court judges replacing Deters and DeWine are Ronald Lewis from the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Dayton and Sean Gallagher of the 8th District in Cleveland.
Hunter also filed documents asking Fischer to recuse himself. He denied that request, calling it “unusual.”
Hunter argued in court documents that Fischer’s daughter, Kathleen, was an assistant prosecutor assigned to a case that led to four of the felony charges that Hunter faced. Hunter alleges that Kathleen Fischer was aware that prosecutors “fabricated court records,” leading to some of the criminal charges against Hunter.
Hunter also said in the documents that Justice Fischer was on the 1st District Court of Appeals when it “handled all of the cases that were appealed from my courtroom and utilized at my trial as evidence.”
Hunter was convicted in 2014 of one count related to using her position as a judge to give her brother, a juvenile court employee, confidential documents. The jury could not agree on verdicts for eight other counts.
Hunter has filed documents on her own behalf challenging the Board of Professional Conduct’s recommendation. On June 13, when Hunter filed the request regarding Fischer's recusal, she wrote that she is representing herself.
It’s not clear if she will personally argue before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Hunter was sentenced to six months in jail in 2014. For more than four years, she was allowed to remain out of jail while she pursued numerous appeals. In July 2019, a judge ordered the sentence to begin, and Hunter was taken into custody after a chaotic hearing.
Hunter ended up spending 75 days in jail, and she was released in October 2019. Hunter completed a court-authorized work detail program ministering to her fellow inmates. She also received three days of credit for every day served.
The board said Hunter violated several rules of judicial conduct, including that a judge should not allow family relationships to influence their conduct, and a judge “shall not knowingly disclose or use nonpublic information … for any purpose unrelated to the judge’s judicial duties.”
Her law license has been suspended on an interim basis since her conviction.
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