Ohio's prosecutor of wayward judges and lawyers has accused a Delaware County magistrate of misconduct while handling a case involving the intimate photos and videos of a divorced couple. Stephen E. Weithman, 64, of Delaware, a magistrate in common pleas court, is scheduled to answer the charges in a Jan. 24 hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary commission.

Ohio�s prosecutor of wayward judges and lawyers has accused a Delaware County magistrate of misconduct while handling a case involving the intimate photos and videos of a divorced couple.



Stephen E. Weithman, 64, of Delaware, a magistrate in common pleas court, is scheduled to answer the charges in a Jan. 24 hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court�s disciplinary commission.



Disciplinary Counsel Scott Drexel accuses Weithman of unprofessional conduct, harming the integrity of the judiciary and prejudicial conduct. He is asking the commissioners to discipline the lawyer of nearly 40 years.



Weithman committed �unethical, undignified and discourteous behavior� in a case in which a woman sought to have her ex-husband held in contempt for violating a divorce agreement not to share intimate images, Drexel wrote in his filing.



Weithman�s attorney, Bradley Frick of Columbus, questioned why a complaint was not filed against his client until last year when the alleged misconduct dates as far back as 2006, a delay he called inexplicable.



The woman sought a contempt finding, and legal fees and other costs from her former husband, in 2005 after claiming she had found images of herself and her ex-husband�s then-girlfriend on � pornographic websites.�



The complaint against Weithman alleges he once �slowly ogled (the ex-wife) from head to toe in a demeaning and degrading fashion.�



In his response, Weithman recalled no such incident, saying he is �nearsighted and absent-minded.�



He also is charged with refusing to sign an order until a lawyer in the case turned over a CD containing the intimate photos of the ex-husband�s current girlfriend. The lawyer said she gave the magistrate a blank CD, and he then signed the order.



Weithman did not recall such an exchange, saying he did not want to see the photos and previously had ordered them sealed.



Weithman is charged with offering a dollar to the ex-husband�s lawyer if he made the man�s former wife cry during questioning at the 2008 trial on the complaint. Weithman admitted placing a $1 bill on his bench, saying it was an attempt to break tensions and that he tried to apologize when he saw that it upset the woman.



Weithman also is charged with other incidents of dealing unprofessionally with lawyers.



Frick said his client has a temper and has worked successfully with experts to address his admitted anger-management problems.



Weithman ultimately found insufficient evidence to hold the ex-husband in contempt, a ruling upheld twice on appeal. The ex-husband committed suicide, and the case was settled in 2010 after an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.



Weithman was suspended for five days without pay in 2011 by Delaware County Common Pleas Judge W. Duncan Whitney after a county employee complained that Weithman had made an undetailed � inappropriate gesture.�



rludlow@dispatch.com



@RandyLudlow