Ohio

Supreme Court agrees to hear same-sex marriage cases

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether states can prohibit same-sex marriage without violating the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians. The court granted review of same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee that have been upheld by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals.…

Jan 16, 2015 3:52 PM CST

Husband swears in wife as he retires and she takes his seat on the bench

Retired Ohio judge James Kimbler plans to spend more time making dinner these days, now that he no longer has to spend his days adjudicating cases. That makes a lot of sense, since his wife, Joyce Kimbler, has taken his seat on the Medina Common Pleas Court bench. Elected in…

Jan 12, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Ohio drops two-drug combination used in prolonged execution

Ohio has announced that it’s dropping the two-drug combination it used in the prolonged execution last year of death row inmate Dennis McGuire. The state also says it will resume using an anesthetic that it stopped using in 2011 when the manufacturer restricted its distribution for use in executions, the…

Jan 9, 2015 3:47 PM CST

Ethics complaint accuses lawyer of sexting with client later accused in extortion plot

An ethics complaint accuses a lawyer in Lima, Ohio, of sexting with a client later charged with obstruction of justice in an alleged extortion scheme against the attorney. The ethics complaint alleges that lawyer N. Shannon Bartels had hundreds of sexual conversations for about a month in 2013 with a…

Dec 29, 2014 7:07 AM CST

Top state court temporarily suspends municipal judge without pay, orders her not to practice law

A municipal judge in Cleveland has been temporarily suspended from her job without pay and ordered not to practice law until her legal ethics case is resolved. In a Thursday order (PDF), the Ohio Supreme Court also said Judge Angela Stokes must undergo a psychiatric exam and said her case…

Dec 19, 2014 11:55 AM CST

9 remaining lawyers at Houston litigation boutique to join Vorys Sater

Only about three years ago, there were 33 attorneys on the roster of Houston litigation boutique Schwartz Junell Greenberg & Oathout. But many went to bigger firms looking to hire local talent in the area’s hot energy law market, and now the remaining nine attorneys at Schwartz Junell are doing…

Dec 15, 2014 4:55 PM CST

Will convicted judge serve 6-month jail term before her appeal is heard?

Found guilty in October of having an unlawful interest in a public contract after she tried to help her brother keep his job as a juvenile court employee, a suspended Ohio juvenile court judge was ordered to report to the Hamilton County jail at the end of the month. However,…

Dec 11, 2014 12:55 PM CST

DOJ report says Cleveland police have pattern of using unreasonable force

In a report (PDF) released Thursday, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice said police in Cleveland have a pattern of using unreasonable force, sometimes endorsed by their supervisors. In response to the report, the city and the DOJ will “develop a court-enforceable consent decree that will…

Dec 4, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Spat between judge and courthouse security officer is resolved by requiring all judges to show ID

Upset about what he perceived as racial profiling, an Ohio judge angrily responded to a request that he show identification as he entered the Hamilton County Courthouse on Monday and Tuesday with heated language. Judge Theodore “Ted” Berry later apologized for the language he used but said seeming selective enforcement…

Nov 21, 2014 10:54 AM CST

Client says lawyer hypnotized her into sex acts; emergency license suspension sought

A Tuesday court filing by the Lorain County Bar Association is seeking the emergency suspension of a longtime Ohio lawyer, after an investigation in which a client wore a wire after police obtained a warrant to record their meeting. The client, backed by recorded evidence, contends that Sheffield attorney Michael…

Nov 19, 2014 1:15 PM CST

Fannie Mae pursues borrowers for foreclosure losses in ‘robo-signer redux’

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae is pursuing borrowers for its foreclosure losses in Florida, where a new law required the deficiency suits to be filed by July 1 of this year. Fannie Mae is seeking to recover the difference between the amount owed on foreclosed properties and the amount collected…

Nov 18, 2014 5:45 AM CST

Disciplinary counsel seeks judge’s suspension, says morning cases are often called in midafternoon

Already facing a disciplinary case, a Cleveland municipal judge is now the subject of a motion seeking a state supreme court order temporarily suspending her both from the bench and law practice. Although the court’s presiding judge has removed criminal cases from Judge Angela Stokes’ docket, she has been fighting…

Nov 12, 2014 2:30 PM CST

Man charged for covering church directory at courthouse with text of First Amendment

A 69-year-old Ohio man is facing a misdemeanor criminal mischief case after admittedly covering a church directory at the Athens County Courthouse with the text of the First Amendment last month. Eliot Kalman pleaded not guilty in the municipal court case, and a hearing is scheduled later this month, according…

Nov 11, 2014 5:00 PM CST

6th Circuit upholds same-sex marriage bans in 4 states; will issue now go to US Supreme Court?

For the first time, a federal appeals court has refused to recognize a constitution-based right of same-sex couples to marry, creating a circuit split and setting the issue up for likely U.S. Supreme Court review. In a 2-1 decision (PDF) on Thursday, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…

Nov 6, 2014 4:45 PM CST

Judge faces ethics investigation over prosecutor’s viewing of live courtroom feed

An Ohio judge is reportedly facing a legal ethics investigation because of a live feed of his courtroom proceedings that was available for the Warren County prosecutor to view in his office. The Cincinnati Enquirer says it has obtained documents that indicate Common Pleas Judge Donald Oda is being probed.…

Oct 31, 2014 11:40 AM CDT