Prosecutor Who Called Criminals ‘Soulless’ Joins Ohio High Court

A prosecutor with more than two decades of big city crime-fighting under his belt will walk into the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday. But he won’t be arguing the cases at the dais; he’ll be sitting on the bench.

It will be the first time Joe Deters, the long-time Republican Hamilton County prosecutor, goes from putting Cincinnati defendants behind bars to weighing whether the law was properly applied. With no previous judicial experience, he’ll hear arguments over a death penalty appeal and a pair of cases challenging whether prison terms can be extended for bad behavior.

Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) appointment of Deters shakes up a court recently controlled by moderate ex-Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, who retired in December. Though a Republican, she formed a majority with Democrats on several close criminal procedure cases, as well as ground-breaking decisions on partisan gerrymandering.

Deters’ critics say that while he doesn’t have a judicial record to analyze, it’s unlikely he’ll play a moderating influence on the court.

“This is an old school prosecutor. ‘Throw the book at them. Put them on death row.’ It’s hard to imagine he experiences some kind of Supreme Court epiphany in this new role,” University of Cincinnati politics professor David Niven said.

He takes the bench alongside “a core set of conservative Republicans, and they will be able to mete out whatever they think is justice without much interest in what the three Democrats have to say in the matter.”

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters

Photo credit: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office

It could be a dramatic shift. Under 4-3 majorities, the court, just within the month of December, expanded rights for juveniles to get off sex offender registries once their sentences are served, ordered a new hearing for a former college student sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her newborn baby in the bathroom of her sorority house, and vacated the conviction of a 14-year-old boy who believed his other personality committed the murder.

O’Connor and the Democrats hurried through a crush of cases in the closing days of the year, filing 10 announcements on Dec. 30 alone. Some litigants and Republican justices claimed the court was attempting to keep Deters from ruling on those matters.

“A change in the court’s membership is imminent,” three Republican justices said in their dissent from a 4-3 decision on Dec. 30 to deny reconsideration in a case over unreasonable searches. If the court would have waited to reconsider the case—a process that is rarely rushed—Deters could have joined with the Republicans to overturn another December O’Connor-led decision that prohibited police from using cell phone evidence obtained through a defective search warrant.

‘Unsalvageable’

Deters, who declined an interview, has a reputation for a bombastic, aggressive prosecuting style that detractors say raises concerns.

The lifetime Cincinnati resident and graduate of college and law school at the University of Cincinnati was first elected Hamilton County Clerk, then went on to serve two periods as county prosecutor (1992-1999 and 2005-2022)—book-ending two terms as Ohio State Treasurer.

As prosecutor for the state’s third largest county, he didn’t shy away from controversy. He came under fire for advocating that Ohio should bring back the firing squad for death penalty executions, saying that violent criminals are “soulless and unsalvageable.”

He also faced criticism for refusing to enter plea deals with any defendant charged with gun violence or possession of illegal guns.

Bill Gallagher, a criminal defense attorney who has squared off against Deters several times, said he has major concerns, especially because Deters would openly criticize judges who ruled against him. Deters told reporters in several instances in the past couple of years that judges improperly ruled against him due to a lack of experience, and because they focused on defendants instead of crime victims.

“He attacked judges on bail, saying they were not qualified to be on the trial level. And this is the guy who is on the Ohio Supreme Court?” Gallagher said. “Something is wrong here. Either these were not his real beliefs or he himself is not qualified.”

‘Fiercely Independent’

Deters’ proponents vouch for his character, both as an honest broker and for an independent streak they say makes him likely to apply the law fairly.

“He’s fiercely independent. I think he’s a perfect fit for the court,” said Karl Schneider, a member McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC specializing in criminal defense, and a long-time friend of Deters. “It would be less likely for Joe to be an automatic prosecutor vote on the court because of his intellect and open mind, and you couldn’t say that about everybody.”

Deters has also bucked prevailing political winds. He twice tried a police officer who shot an unarmed Black man, yielding hung juries. He said that he didn’t pursue a third trial only because jurors told him they’d never bend in the case.

He also came out against Covid-19 shutdown protesters in 2021 when they threatened to close county highways, despite a surge in support for that movement from Ohio Republicans.

“Joe is a long-serving and well-regarded public servant who is known for his legal intellect, reverence for the rule of law, and his accessibility,” DeWine said in a statement. He declined to elaborate on why he picked Deters over other candidates.

Advocates involved in high stakes cases before the Ohio Supreme Court told Bloomberg Law they hoped that Deters’ reputation for independence would carry through into his decision-making.

“We will certainly miss the leadership of Chief Justice O’Connor, but we are hopeful that Justice Deters will be fair, because once judicial robes are put on it’s the job of the judge to leave their party inclinations to the side and rule on the merits,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

She expects the court to hear litigation from her group regarding political gerrymandering in the coming years—something where O’Connor broke with her fellow Republicans to rule against GOP-drawn maps.

Dan Sabol, president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he hopes Deters will emulate a different conservative jurist, the late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who “jealously guarded the constitutional rights of defendants.”

“I’m sure he’s going to do everything he can to be impartial,” Sabol said. “But for the citizens of Ohio, there’s got to be a comfort that these judges are being impartial. And there’s got to be concern when you see he’s a prosecutor who’s talking about bringing back the firing squad for the death penalty.”