The long legal saga of former Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter reached a tense bookend July 22 as a deputy dragged her by her shoulders out of the courtroom of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker to spend six months in jail.
Dinkelacker executed the sentence for a fourth-degree felony conviction handed down almost five years prior by his now-retired predecessor, Judge Norbert Nadel. The October 2014 felony conviction was for providing her brother Stephen Hunter, a juvenile court employee, with confidential records as he was in the process of being fired for striking an inmate. Hunter says he was acting in self-defense.
Prosecutors and Hunter's critics say she has willfully broken the law without remorse. But her attorneys and supporters say she is innocent, and some see politics in play in her long struggle.
Hunter's ongoing legal battle and subsequent incarceration have stirred up intense anger from some in Cincinnati's African-American communities. As Dinkelacker gave his decision, supporters of the first black juvenile court judge and faith leader burst into chants and yells. One was arrested by deputies for crossing over a bar between the court gallery and the rest of the courtroom.
"This city is going to burn," one attendee yelled.
"They dragged my pastor out of the courtroom," a woman said. "They dragged her."
Hunter went limp after Dinkelacker indicated she would serve the six-month sentence.
The former judge's attorney, David Singleton, told Dinkelacker that Hunter's legal battle is not over and that he is filing motions to dismiss the charges against her.
"The conviction is unjust," Singleton said, also taking issue with the sentence. “Six months in the jail in a felony for someone who has never been in trouble before and someone who still has a positive impact in our community is not just."
Singleton said that Hunter has lost her job as a judge, her law license and " her peace of mind."
"That's a lot. But she has held onto her character," he said, pointing out that amid her legal battles, Hunter has continued to serve the community as a pastor at Western Hills Brethren in Christ Church. She is also the caretaker for her elderly mother, Singleton said.
But special prosecutor Scott Croswell told Dinkelacker that the sentence was warranted, saying that Hunter had not shown remorse, that her conviction was upheld in state and federal courts and that she "continues to lash out" at the court.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters sent a letter to Dinkelacker with strong words about Hunter's actions. But he also asked that the sentence be delayed so Hunter could undergo a psychological evaluation.
"She has been incredibly disrespectful to you and to the justice system," Deters wrote. "That being said, I believe she has some kind of mental condition that has created this scenario."
Hunter's attorneys pushed back strongly on the suggestion, saying their client is of sound mind.
Deters' wasn't the only letter Dinkelacker got. Mayor John Cranley, Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman, former NAACP President Edith Thrower and other community leaders also wrote to the judge asking him not to incarcerate Hunter.
"Mrs. Hunter has suffered for her conviction," Cranley wrote. "It doesn't appear to me that she poses a risk to others. Her professional life has been negatively impacted. She has been punished enough."
Several Cincinnati City Council members and other elected officials also spoke out in opposition.
"Sending Tracie Hunter to jail is absolutely ridiculous, a total overreach, and a complete waste of taxpayer money," council member Greg Landsman tweeted.
Dinkelacker also said he received 47 postcards sent to his home asking him not to jail Hunter. Many of those postcards said the authors were "registered voters," something the judge said he took as a threat.
One postcard called Dinkelacker "a fraud." Another railed against the fact that the judge faced no penalties for an incident in which he hit a woman with his SUV on Central Parkway in December 2013, pushing her into another moving car.
The woman, who police say was standing in the middle of the street, died. Authorities said Dinkelacker was not charged with a crime because the woman was not in a crosswalk and tested positive for drugs. A civil suit alleged Dinkelacker crossed the double-yellow line when he hit the woman; his attorneys denied this. The judge settled the suit out of court.
"I hope no judge ever has to go through this," Dinkelacker said of the letters. "If this was an attempt to intimidate to me, that has flat out failed."
The tense day in court comes after years of controversy around Hunter, her judgeship and her conviction.
Hunter ran for juvenile court judge in 2010. Initially, her opponent John Williams was declared the winner. But Hunter sued because some votes were not counted. When they were, Hunter came out victorious by a slim margin.
"She entered the court under a great cloud of opposition," civil rights activist Bishop Bobby Hilton said after the July 22 sentencing. "It's been a major political fight since day one."
Hunter made changes to the juvenile court, including ordering young defendants taken out of shackles. Her supporters say those changes and the tense electoral battle are behind what happened next. In 2014, Hunter was indicted on nine felony accusations. Jurors couldn't agree on eight of those counts, but did convict Hunter on one. After the trial, three jurors indicated they wished to change their votes to not guilty, but a motion for a retrial was denied.
Hunter was able to stay out of jail as her case took a long, winding series of appeals that went through state courts and, eventually, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. But in May, federal District Court Judge Timothy Black upheld Hunter's sentence after three years presiding over the case.
That opened the door to Hunter's incarceration.
Outside the courtroom following the July 22 hearing, State. Sen. Cecil Thomas and Hilton said Cincinnati's African-American communities should consider an economic boycott in response to Hunter's treatment.
"It's a political statement that they're making," Thomas said. "They're saying to us 'stay in your place, don't you dare challenge our authority.' Judge Hunter came in and made changes to the court. We're not going to stand for it. This is going to be the beginning of a huge price this region will pay for this miscarriage of justice... every day she sits in this jail there will be an economic price to pay. Judge Hunter is not the end; she is the beginning."
Thomas said the court is a "Republican stronghold" that Hunter was punished for challenging. He pointed to accusations that the county courts run on nepotism, including a case in which Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine emailed Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters asking about internships in the prosecutor's office for his son. That request was granted.
"That was a violation of ethics," Thomas said. "It fits every element."
Hunter's supporters have taken a number of steps to proclaim her innocence and protest her impending jail sentence. Last week, they lined Reading Road holding signs asking for justice for the former judge. A large group showed up at a Hamilton County Commissioners meeting protesting the roughly $2 million taxpayers have spent on her trial.
The night before the July 22 sentencing hearing, a group of roughly 40 of Hunter's supporters gathered outside the Hamilton County Courthouse for five hours, lit by the occasional flash of lightning.
"I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness to see this many people showing up on a Sunday night," Hunter said as she stood near the courthouse steps. "In preparation for what lies ahead, it's a blessing. It's encouraging for me. I feel loved. These people get what I was trying to do on behalf of the children and families of Hamilton County."
Hunter said she remains focused on addressing racial and economic disparities in the juvenile court system, where a large number of defendants are black, low-income or both.
"I think people have to want to eliminate the disparities, and honestly, I think by what they've done to me, the willingness to pay any amount of money to eliminate the first African-American juvenile court judge, they don't want to change."
The crowd didn't disperse until midnight.
"You are our modern-day Rosa Parks," Rev. Damon Lynch III, pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church, said at that event. "You are our modern-day Ida B. Wells. We have to make sure that when history is told, it is told correctly. The people in this building behind us, they targeted you."
The case will very likely have political dimensions. Prosecutor Deters is up for reelection next year, and his Democratic Party opponent Gabe Davis is already blasting him for Hunter's situation.
"This is sad day for justice and unity in our county," Davis wrote. "Joe Deters claimed he had nothing to do with Tracie Hunter’s prosecution, and that he was recused, but then today he went out of his way to slander her to the sentencing judge just before she was literally dragged to jail."
Deters, for his part, has asked Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to explore commuting Hunter's sentence. DeWine's office has said the governor will consider that if Hunter applies for commutation.
