Tracie Hunter

Early life and education Tracie-Marie Hunter was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1966 to Charlotte Thomas and Stephen “Steven” Edward Hunter Sr. She was raised as the eldest of four siblings (Edward Louis, Erica, and Stephen Edward Jr.) in a Catholic family. In 1986, 17-year-old Edward Louis committed a string of armed robberies that ended in a confrontation with the police and Edward Louis shooting himself.

She graduated from Forest Park High School, completed her undergraduate education at Miami University, and earned a Juris Doctor professional degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Hunter's campaign identified what appeared to be significant issues with the provisional ballots that were cast and protested the election results, ultimately leading to the filing of a federal lawsuit. In November 2010, Federal Judge Susan Dlott ruled that Williams should not take the office until the issue of the provisional ballots was investigated and resolved.

On January 10, 2011, upon assuming the office of Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted (R), ordered the Board of Election to officially declare John Williams the winner without counting provisional ballots, but after two days, Judge Dlott ordered the Board to count more than 150 of the disputed provisional ballots, which, as stated in the decision, "appeared to have been cast at the wrong precinct table "due to poll worker error".' In April 2011, the Board appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court but the high court declined to hear the case, sending it back to Dlott's District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division. while on March 16, 2012, she denied the Hamilton County Board of Elections' motion to stay further proceedings in this action. Following the court-ordered recount, Hunter was declared the winner by 71 votes and was sworn in on May 25, 2012.

Judgeship During her time as Juvenile Court judge, Hunter mandated that prosecutors turn over evidence to defense lawyers that a state court had already ruled was not disclosable, outlawed the shackling of juveniles in the courtroom, reduced "default judgments," and initiated a change of state election laws that eventually permitted ex-felons to vote. Additionally, she increased the court's staff training, assigned additional drivers for the transportation of offenders in order to reduce crowding in the vehicles, and mandated the provision of additional underwear to juvenile offenders who were previously often forced to share.

In subsequent statements, Hunter claimed that her "focus" was "on rehabilitation instead of incarceration." The case was brought to Judge Hunter's court; she placed the defendants, who had all pleaded guilty, on house arrest pending her decision on the case, and ordered them to do community service in the meantime. Among the six, were a pair of twins who had been accused the day before of an assault near school grounds. See Kimball (2013-02-17) USA Today Pat Mahaney, as his brother related, had fallen into a state of "deep depression" after the attack, eventually descending into alcoholism. After performing an autopsy, the Hamilton County Coroner stated that the death was caused by "natural causes," unrelated to the physical traumas from the beating. See Fox19 (2013-08-06) On September 13, 2013, Assistant County Prosecutor Bill Breyer reported that someone had backdated documents in Judge Hunter's court and claimed that the private company responsible for the court's computer operation determined that two documents filed and signed by the judge were not created until weeks after they were dated, thus preventing prosecutors from appealing her court's decisions. Two special prosecutors were appointed to investigate the allegations. Hunter was already facing a November 22 deadline set by the First District Court of Appeals to rule on a "backlog of cases" in her court. Steve Hunter was eventually fired from the Hamilton County Juvenile Court's Youth Center. See Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas (2022) Opinion 19-3515 19-3550

Trials and motions Following her eight-count felony indictment on January 10, 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court disqualified Hunter from serving as a judge the same day.

On October 14, 2014, the jury found Hunter guilty on the count of "unlawful interest in a public contract" and deadlocked on all other counts. After reading the verdict, County Judge Norbert Nadel admonished the defendant who, he said, while serving as a judge, engaged in "serious ethical violations" that included, among others, nepotism, improper judicial temperament, tardiness in rendering decisions, and denying public access to her court. A week after the jury verdict, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended her license to practice law. On December 5, 2014, Judge Nadel sentenced Hunter to 6 months in the Justice Center prison, plus one year of community service and monetary compensation for the court's costs. At the end of her appeal hearing in court, Hunter refused to cooperate and had to be dragged out of the courtroom by a bailiff. In 2020, Hunter served her sentence after staying 75 days in jail, to support her appeal to have her lawyer's license reinstated. On April 7, 2023, the Board decided to recommend that Hunter be "indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in Ohio". Hunter appealed her case to the Supreme Court of Ohio, and on June 28, 2023, representing herself, she argued to the court that she had not committed the crime of which a jury found her guilty. Asked by Justice Melody J. Stewart what Hunter wanted the court to do, Hunter responded, "I would ask you to dismiss this complaint against me. And make me whole by reinstating my law license."

On November 21, 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision to indefinitely suspend Hunter's license. The professional conduct rules allow an attorney to seek reinstatement after two years under an indefinite suspension, and the court gave Hunter credit for nine years of suspension time, allowing Hunter the opportunity to immediately apply for reinstatement.

Personal life In October 1987, while a senior at Miami University, Hunter was involved in a car accident that left her with "serious" head and facial injuries, and both legs temporarily paralyzed. She eventually recovered, and by January 1988, she was back at the university. She took 34 academic credit hours in one semester and graduated on time.

Hunter is a pastor of the Western Hills Brethren in Christ Church.