Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser has been appointed to review allegations made by a former Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge against two Ohio Supreme Court justices.
Gmoser was named as a special prosecutor to review allegations made by former judge Tracie Hunter against Justices Joe Deters and Pat DeWine in an affidavit she filed last year as a private citizen. Hunter was convicted of a felony charge more than a decade ago related to her conduct while she was a judge and served jail time.
Some of the allegations date back to 2014, when Deters was Hamilton County’s prosecutor and DeWine was an appeals court judge. The claims are not new and have been stated publicly as well as in other court filings over the last several years.
Hunter’s
affidavit was filed in December 2025 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. Because Hunter is known to all of the court’s judges and magistrates, they eventually were recused from hearing the case. The Ohio Supreme Court then appointed a visiting judge, retired Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers II. On Sept. 28, Powers appointed Gmoser as special prosecutor.
In a statement, Gmoser said he has extensive experience for the role, having practiced law for more than five decades, including the last 15 years as his county’s elected prosecutor.
“The case under consideration does not begin as a prosecution, but only a review of the allegations made and the procedures followed pursuant to law. In turn, that will result in a decision by me on the next steps to follow, if any. If this matter is determined by me not to be well founded, this matter is closed,” Gmoser said. “For the sake of all concerned, as well as an interested public, I will give my best effort to be fair, impartial and unbiased and provide a detailed report wherever this case leads to a conclusion.”
What Tracie Hunter is alleging
Among Hunter's allegations is that the appointment of the special prosecutors who handled the case against her in 2014 was improper. She says the special prosecutors had represented Deters “in criminal and divorce cases he faced” and were appointed based on their relationship to him. She also questions whether a juror at Hunter’s trial was a personal friend of one of the special prosecutors and may have been “unlawfully placed” as forewoman.
She alleges that Deters’ brother, Dennis, then a member of the county board of commissioners, improperly voted to approve more than $1 million for her case to be prosecuted.
She also alleges that in 2017, during DeWine's first term as a Supreme Court justice, a crime was committed when he sent an email to Deters, requesting an internship for his son at the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, and Deters “responded by instructing” his office to hire DeWine’s son.
Attorney for justices calls Hunter's claims 'baseless'
An attorney for DeWine and Deters, Steve Wenke, said in a statement: "These are the same baseless charges that Tracie Hunter has been making for years. As Hunter's own affidavit makes clear, she is simply bitter because of her prosecution and conviction for violating Ohio law."
Wenke said that under Ohio law, any citizen can file an affidavit alleging a criminal offense. Ordinarily, such affidavits are referred to the county prosecutor for review. But in this case, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich felt she had a conflict of interest, so the judge referred the matter to Gmoser.
"I have every confidence that Prosecutor Gmoser − like the ethics officials who have previously reviewed Hunter's allegations − will find them meritless," Wenke said.
Hunter was convicted in 2014 of a charge related to using her position as a judge to give confidential documents to her brother, a juvenile court employee who was in the process of being fired. After several years of appeals, she was ordered in 2019 to serve a six-month jail term and ended up spending 75 days in jail.
She has continued to appeal her conviction. In May, a judge denied her request to file a post-conviction petition.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Prosecutor to review allegations against Ohio Supreme Court justices
