Kimball Perry

kperry@enquirer.com

Tracie Hunter walked into court Tuesday as a judge wondering about her future. She walked out a convicted felon facing a potential year-and-a-half in prison.

A Hamilton County jury, in its sixth week of trial, couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on eight remaining felonies charged against the juvenile court judge.

Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel, presiding over Hunter's criminal trial, then ordered the verdict on count 6 – which the jury made Friday but was not announced and ordered sealed – to be read. Jurors found Hunter guilty of having an unlawful interest in a public contract involving her brother obtaining documents to which he wasn't entitled.

After the jury was dismissed, Hunter tried to leave but Nadel told her and others that court wasn't over because he had something to say.

"Since ascending to the bench, Judge Hunter has gone from a potentially great role model to convicted felon. This is a sad day for the system of justice. This is a sad day for Judge Hunter, her family and her supporters," Nadel said.

Hunter, 47, has a small group of loyal followers, most of them connected to the Westwood church where she is a pastor.

As the verdict was read, Hunter initially didn't react but then got a quizzical look on her face before looking at her attorney, Clyde Bennett II, who lowered his head into his hand. Hunter left court wearing a smile, but said nothing.

"I'm shocked," Bennett said of the verdict. "Of course, the case will be appealed." He also wants the eight other charges the jury couldn't agree on to be dismissed.

Special Prosecutors Merlyn Shiverdecker and R. Scott Croswell III, wouldn't comment and left through a back door after the jury was dismissed. They have to decide if they will retry Hunter on the eight counts on which the jury couldn't reach a verdict.

"She was guilty of being a very bad judge even before the jury found her guilty" of a crime, said Alex Triantafilou, Hamilton County Republican Party chairman and a former Common Pleas Court judge.

Tim Burke, Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman, wouldn't comment on the verdict.

Hunter's defense at trial was she was an innocent woman whose crime was trying to right the wrongs she saw in a flawed juvenile court system. In doing that and as that court's first black female, she believed herself the target of the GOP after she sued to win a controversial 2010 judicial election.

Before her suit, she lost the election. After she won the suit and questioned votes were counted, she won, taking the bench 18 months after the election.

Hunter fought many battles in her less-than-two-years on the bench. She battled with prosecutors, argued with defense attorneys, was sued by The Enquirer when she barred its reporters from entering the public courtroom over which she presided, was sued by the public defender which asked a higher court to force her to act on long-pending cases that were preventing adoptions and long-term foster-care placements from happening. She was found in contempt by the appeals court and chastised by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Nadel said he would consider several things at Hunter's sentencing where he can do anything from place her on probation to send her to the local jail to send her to prison for six to 18 months. He noted that her conviction was a low-level felony and her lack of a prior criminal record would be considered.

"However," Nadel said ominously, "this charge involves a serious breach of public interest. Elected public officials, especially judges, are and should be held to a higher standard of conduct."

Hunter also faces "a high probability" of disciplinary charges from the Ohio Supreme Court, where the burden of proof is far less than in a criminal trial. Those disciplinary hearings potentially could lead to her being disbarred.

The Ohio Supreme Court suspended Hunter with pay following her January indictment. After it receives a certified copy of her felony conviction in a week or so, it will move to suspend her without pay from the $121,350-per-year job.

Nadel believed the trial proved Hunter was guilty of nepotism, of preventing public access to her courtroom, of not rendering judicial decision timely and thus hurting the children and families she swore an oath to protect as well as "improper judicial temperament."

While he will consider Croswell's suggestion to the jury that the special prosecutor didn't necessarily expect Hunter to be imprisoned, Nadel was unsure.

"The evidence shows the conduct of Judge Hunter has dealt a very serious blow to public confidence in our system of justice. These two factors alone could very well justify jail time," Nadel said.

Hunter will be sentenced Dec. 2.

The conviction

Tracie Hunter was convicted of having an unlawful interest in a public contract.

A Hamilton County jury found that Hunter used her power as a judge to obtain documents involving the incident where Hunter's brother, Steven, was fired from his job as a Juvenile Court worker for punching a teen inmate. Some of those documents included physical and mental evaluations of the teen Steven Hunter punched.

Later, Steven Hunter gave documents to his attorney, Janaya Trotter, to help fight his firing. Trotter, called as a defense witness by Hunter, testified that after seeing some of the documents Steven Hunter tried to give her, she refused to accept them, testifying in court it would have been "unethical" as an attorney to take them.

While Trotter remembered a great deal about that meeting with Steven Hunter, when prosecutors asked who Steven Hunter told her gave him those documents, Trotter testified she couldn't remember.

The disciplinary process

If Tracie Hunter is disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court – her Tuesday felony conviction is strong evidence that could happen – someone has to file a complaint against her.

Because the complaint process is confidential, it can't be revealed unless there later is a "conviction" or finding that the complaint is valid. That will be decided by a three-member panel of the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline. It must find there is "substantial, credible evidence" that misconduct occurred for her to be punished.

If that happens, the complaint becomes public and a hearing is set. A separate three-member panel will hold a hearing. Any recommended discipline is sent to the full Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline. That full board makes its recommendation to the Ohio Supreme Court which can accept or reject the panel's finding.

The process could take months.

Source: Ohio Supreme Court

A comparison?

Tracie Hunter faces up to 18 months in prison after her Tuesday felony conviction.

A similar case, also before Judge Norbert Nadel, could be an indication of if Nadel sends Hunter to prison or gives her probation.

In 2010, Damon Ridley, a bailiff for Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge John "Skip" West, was convicted after a trial of attempted bribery. Ridley was found not guilty of bribery.

Ridley used inside information he got from reading the judge's case notes to try to bribe a drug dealer whose criminal case was before West. Ridley suggested he could lessen any sentence the drug dealer faced – for a price.

Ridley was convicted of the same level felony as was Hunter – fourth-degree felony. Probation seemed likely.

Instead, Nadel said he didn't like Ridley trying to alter the criminal justice process and sent him to prison for 14 months. In August, Ridley had that criminal record expunged.

CHARGES

Count 1: Tampering with evidence, (backdating documents)

Count 2: Forgery (signing documents knowing they were backdated)

Count 3: Tampering with evidence, (backdating documents)

Count 4: Forgery (signing documents knowing they were backdated)

Count 5: Having unlawful interest in a public contract (arranged for her Juvenile Court employee brother to get overtime)

Count 6: Having unlawful interest in a public contract (contacting court employees to get documents for Juvenile Court employee brother to fight his firing)

Count 7: Theft in office, used county credit card to pay for non-allowable expenses (her legal filings in lawsuits filed against her as a judge)

Count 8: Theft in office, used county credit card to pay for non-allowable expenses (her legal filings in lawsuits filed against her as a judge)

Count 9 (really count 1 of the SECOND indictment): Misuse of credit card, used county credit card to pay for non-allowable expenses (her legal filings in lawsuits filed against her as a judge)

Source: Court documents