Tracie Hunter pleads not guilty to criminal charges
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Judge Tracie Hunter Arraigned: Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter is arraigned on nine felony counts Friday morning before Judge Norbert A. Nadel.
Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter arrives for her arraignment on nine felony charges before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel on Friday. / The Enquirer/Gary Landers
Judge Tracie Hunter arrives Friday for her arraignment on nine felony charges. / The Enquirer/Gary Landers
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Until Jan. 10, Tracie Hunter wore a robe in a courtroom and presided over cases.
The suspended judge, though, was in court Friday in a completely different role – as an accused criminal facing nine felony charges that could send her to prison for 14 years.
Hunter, 47, didn’t speak as she stood before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel. The charges against her were read aloud and her attorney pleaded not guilty for her. Nadel allowed her to be released on her own recognizance – with her promise to appear at subsequent court hearings – and ended the brief hearing.
It came a week after Hunter was indicted eight times by a Hamilton County grand jury and just days after a ninth charge was added. She is accused of forgery, backdating court documents to prevent prosecutors from appealing her decisions, misusing a court-owned credit card and improperly helping her brother, who was fired from his job as a juvenile court employee after he punched a teen inmate.
“These are just a bunch of trumped-up charges,” Bishop Bobby Hilton of Word of Deliverance Ministries said after the hearing.
The indictment was the result of an investigation by special prosecutors who interviewed more than 30 witnesses and reviewed more than 1,000 documents.
Special prosecutors R. Scott Croswell III and Merlyn Shiverdecker declined to comment Friday.
Hilton and Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati councilman, have loudly protested what they believe is the racist and unfair way the community has treated Hunter.
“The race card has been issued a long time ago,” Thomas said Friday after he was asked why Hunter supporters believe the color of her skin is partly responsible for the criminal charges against her.
“This whole issue of race in Hamilton County has been a problem for a long time.”
Last year, Hunter was sued by the Hamilton County public defender over 18 cases in her court. The suits accuse Hunter of hurting the people she is supposed to protect as a juvenile court judge by not finishing those cases in the time allotted by the Ohio Supreme Court. The delays, the suit alleges, force children to wait for adoption or long-term foster care placement and force adults to wait to settle custody disputes.
She also has been sued by The Enquirer and other media over access to public documents and the public courtroom over which she presides.
Her case is next in court March 4.
Because an indictment is an accusation, Hunter was suspended with pay Jan. 10 by the Ohio Supreme Court until the case is resolved. Hunter, like all other common pleas court judges in Ohio, has an annual salary of $121,350. ■
The suspended judge, though, was in court Friday in a completely different role – as an accused criminal facing nine felony charges that could send her to prison for 14 years.
Hunter, 47, didn’t speak as she stood before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel. The charges against her were read aloud and her attorney pleaded not guilty for her. Nadel allowed her to be released on her own recognizance – with her promise to appear at subsequent court hearings – and ended the brief hearing.
It came a week after Hunter was indicted eight times by a Hamilton County grand jury and just days after a ninth charge was added. She is accused of forgery, backdating court documents to prevent prosecutors from appealing her decisions, misusing a court-owned credit card and improperly helping her brother, who was fired from his job as a juvenile court employee after he punched a teen inmate.
“These are just a bunch of trumped-up charges,” Bishop Bobby Hilton of Word of Deliverance Ministries said after the hearing.
The indictment was the result of an investigation by special prosecutors who interviewed more than 30 witnesses and reviewed more than 1,000 documents.
Special prosecutors R. Scott Croswell III and Merlyn Shiverdecker declined to comment Friday.
Hilton and Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati councilman, have loudly protested what they believe is the racist and unfair way the community has treated Hunter.
“The race card has been issued a long time ago,” Thomas said Friday after he was asked why Hunter supporters believe the color of her skin is partly responsible for the criminal charges against her.
“This whole issue of race in Hamilton County has been a problem for a long time.”
Last year, Hunter was sued by the Hamilton County public defender over 18 cases in her court. The suits accuse Hunter of hurting the people she is supposed to protect as a juvenile court judge by not finishing those cases in the time allotted by the Ohio Supreme Court. The delays, the suit alleges, force children to wait for adoption or long-term foster care placement and force adults to wait to settle custody disputes.
She also has been sued by The Enquirer and other media over access to public documents and the public courtroom over which she presides.
Her case is next in court March 4.
Because an indictment is an accusation, Hunter was suspended with pay Jan. 10 by the Ohio Supreme Court until the case is resolved. Hunter, like all other common pleas court judges in Ohio, has an annual salary of $121,350. ■
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