A Butler County prosecutor has been handed the job of reviewing allegations that former Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Tracie Hunter has leveled against two sitting Ohio Supreme Court justices, stemming from her own 2014 felony conviction. Michael Gmoser was appointed special prosecutor to examine Hunter's claims against Justices Joe Deters and Pat DeWine, along with the legal procedures used against her more than a decade ago, before deciding whether the matter goes any further.
Gmoser's review traces back to an affidavit Hunter filed as a private citizen in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in December 2025, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Retired Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers II, serving as a visiting judge in the case, appointed Gmoser to the role on September 28.
What Gmoser Says He Will and Won't Do
Gmoser has framed the assignment carefully, saying the matter begins as a review rather than a prosecution and that he will ultimately provide a decision on next steps, if any are warranted. He has pledged to be fair, impartial and unbiased, the Enquirer reports. If he determines the allegations are not well founded, he says he will close the matter and issue a detailed report explaining why.
The review effectively lands on Gmoser's desk because Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich felt she had a conflict of interest in evaluating Hunter's affidavit herself and referred the matter to him, according to the same account. Under Ohio law, any citizen can file an affidavit alleging a criminal offense, and such filings are ordinarily referred to the county prosecutor for review — a process outlined in Ohio Revised Code section 2935.09, which allows a private citizen with knowledge of the facts to seek a prosecution.
Hunter's Allegations Against the Justices
Hunter alleges that the appointment of special prosecutors in her original 2014 case was improper, contending that those attorneys had previously represented Deters in criminal and divorce cases. She also questions whether a trial juror was a personal friend of one of those special prosecutors and alleges the juror may have been unlawfully placed as forewoman.
Hunter's filing also points to a 2017 email in which Pat DeWine, then an appeals court judge, asked Joe Deters — the Hamilton County prosecutor at the time — about an internship for DeWine's son at the prosecutor's office, according to the Enquirer's reporting. Deters is said to have responded by instructing his office to hire the younger DeWine. Both justices have recused themselves from proceedings involving Hunter's case because of those prior connections, according to WLWT. Hunter has also said Justice Pat Fisher has a conflict of interest, though Fisher declined to recuse himself, the station reports.
The 2014 Case That Started It All
Hunter, a former Hamilton County juvenile court judge, was convicted in 2014 of a felony charge tied to her conduct on the bench — using her position to give confidential documents to her brother, who was a juvenile court employee facing termination at the time. WLWT reports she was sentenced to six months in jail for felony unlawful interest in a public contract, and the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct later recommended she be suspended indefinitely from practicing law, finding she had engaged in professional misconduct.
Hunter has continued to appeal her conviction in the years since, and as recently as May a judge denied her request to file a post-conviction petition, per the Enquirer's report. Her claims concern the justices and the procedures used against her in her case.
Under Ohio Revised Code section 2935.10, a judge, clerk or magistrate reviewing a felony affidavit or complaint generally must issue a warrant unless there is reason to believe the filing was not made in good faith or lacks merit — otherwise the matter goes to a prosecutor for investigation first, which is the posture Gmoser now occupies. For now, no charges, warrants or disciplinary actions have followed, and Gmoser has not indicated when his review will conclude.
