Photo: BBC
Chaos erupted in an Ohio courtroom Monday as a former judge was dragged out to begin serving a six-month jail sentence following a felony conviction for helping her brother, a county employee, hold onto his job.
The former Hamilton County juvenile court judge had been convicted in 2014 on a charge of unlawful interest in a public contract after sharing confidential documents with her brother, then a juvenile court employee who was about to be fired, reportsThe Cincinnati Enquirer.
Hunter had been free while her conviction was appealed, but a federal judge tasked with reviewing the county case ruled last May that “strong evidence” existed against Hunter and the punishment could proceed, according to the outlet.
“I appreciate that she has been convicted but serving prison time seems to me to be disproportionate to her crime,” wrote Mayor John Cranley in a letter to Dinkelacker requesting that he not send Hunter to jail.
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David Singleton, a defense attorney for Hunter, also asked that the sentence be further delayed, saying he planned to file a motion to dismiss her conviction and that Hunter had not violated state law, according to theEnquirer.
“We believe it will be profoundly unjust and unfair, and a waste of taxpayer dollars, to incarcerate her for one minute,” he said in court Monday.
“She’s lost everything almost,” Singleton said. “She lost her job as a judge, her law license, her ability to earn an income. She’s lost peace of mind.”
The former judge had faced eight additional counts, but those were dismissed after jurors failed to reach a verdict, and her attorneys argued that her prosecution stemmed from politics after Hunter reached the bench as the declared winner of a disputed election, according to WCPO.
Deters has asked the office of Gov. Mike DeWine to consider commuting Hunter’s sentence, but Hunter herself must apply for the commutation, a spokesman for the governor’s office told theEnquirer.
Hunter currently is being held in the medical facility at the Hamilton County Justice Center, where jail officials said she can be evaluated to see if she qualifies for early release, according to WLWT.
source: people.com
