CINCINNATI — Former juvenile court judge Tracie Hunter was suspended from practicing law indefinitely Tuesday morning — but that decision by the Supreme Court of Ohio also paves the way for her to apply to be reinstated.
The Supreme Court also gave Hunter credit for the nine years she served under an interim suspension, while her case was still pending in court.
Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote for the Court majority that professional conduct rules allow an attorney to seek reinstatement after two years under an indefinite suspension. Because of the credit given to Hunter for her interim suspension, she can immediately apply to be reinstated, Donnelly wrote in the opinion.
If she applies and that application is accepted, Hunter would then have to be elected to a position.
Justice Patrick F. Fisher disagreed with Donnelly, writing that while he agreed Hunter violated the rules and should be indefinitely suspended, she should not receive the credit for time served under the interim suspension.
Fisher wrote he could not find any cases determined in Ohio where a judge committed a felony and was not either disbarred or indefinitely suspended without credit for time served.
Hunter was originally elected to the Hamilton County Juvenile Court in 2012. Once in office, she clashed publicly and frequently with other officials, until early 2014 when a pair of special prosecutors announced eight felony charges against her.
Ultimately, Hunter was convicted of only one crime at the end of the year: Improper interest in a public contract, for giving her brother access to confidential documents in order to prepare for a hearing. Judge Norbert Nadel sentenced her to six months in jail.
After numerous appeals, Hunter was ordered to serve the six-month jail sentence; she was dragged from the courtroom in 2019 after a judge ordered authorities to take her to jail. When Judge Patrick Dinkelacker ruled to execute the sentence, the courtroom erupted in shouts from her supporters, many of whom argued — as she, herself, had — that she was punished harshly because of her race.
Hunter served two months of her original six-month sentence and completed her probation in 2020.
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