opinion

Vendetta, not justice, for Tracie Hunter

Vivian Rodgers is a Mount Auburn resident.

Martin Luther King Jr. stated "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" and African-American Judge Tracie Hunter has been done some grave injustices by elected officials in her state of Ohio. These injustices range from the prosecutor's office in Cincinnati all the way up to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Hunter, who was suspended after being unfairly charged with nine counts of criminal activities and convicted on only one, was told by the prosecutor's office that if she appealed the conviction she would be brought back in court and retried on the same old other eight charges. Nevertheless Hunter appealed. Now she is scheduled to be retried Sept. 8.

It is as if Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and his clan have a personal vendetta against Hunter. Certainly this is not justice.

Prior to that another injustice against occurred when former Judge Norbert Nadel presided over her trial last year and sentenced Hunter to six months in jail on the one conviction, which was interfering with a county contract involving a relative. Six months in jail in this case is not justice for someone like Hunter. She is not a threat to the community. She is not only a minister of a church but a pillar in society. Probation maybe, community service perhaps – but six months in jail is outright unjust.

However, Nadel retired at the end of the year and was replaced by former appeals court Judge Pat Dinkelacker. As an appeals court judge, Dinkelacker not only ruled against Hunter on several cases but he also knows some of the witnesses who will testify in her trials. Hunter and her attorney, Clyde Bennett II, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to remove Dinkelacker from her case because she does not believe he could be fair and impartial. Nevertheless, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Chief Maureen O'Connor denied Hunter's request. In her decision she ruled that "those facts do not necessarily support an inference that the judge will harbor personal bias against the defendant such that the reasonable person would question whether the judge could be fair in the current proceeding,"

No disrespect to the high court, but apparently O'Conner is not aware of the "good old boys network" here in Hamilton County. If she did perhaps her ruling would have been different. Again, no disrespect to the court, but a "reasonable person" might wonder why Dinkelacker is so adamant about presiding over Hunter's trials. Is it that he is just so eager to hand out justice, or perhaps he is harboring "personal bias against the defendant"? Dinkelacker is the only judge in Hamilton County who will even take her case. Allowing Dinkelacker to remain on Hunter's case is another example of injustice against her.

The most recent injustice occurred when Hunter and her attorney were denied a motion to disqualify the Cincinnati-based Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals from presiding over her case.

The money that the prosecutor's office is wasting persecuting Hunter could be given to another department, which could maybe use the money more wisely. Hunter's first trial cost the taxpayers of Hamilton County $460,000, and retrying her could cost even more. This comes at a time when many elected officials love to talk about the budget. Not enough money for this, not enough money for that, but yet they sit idly by and watch Deters' office squander away taxpayers' dollars on their obsession with prosecuting Hunter.

King also stated "to ignore evil is to be an accomplice to it." These injustices need to stop. Black lives matter!