Justice seeks dismissal of ethics charge
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Patrick DeWine is seeking the dismissal of a judicial ethics charge alleging he improperly used the influence of his office in asking a county prosecutor to hire his son for a summer job.
DeWine is not required to respond to another charge — that he has improperly failed to recuse himself from hearing cases involving the office of his father, Attorney General Mike DeWine — until his motion to dismiss receives a ruling from a three-judge panel.
DeWine’s lawyer said in a Friday filing that the hiring of his son, Matt, for a summer job last year by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters already was being reviewed by a separate three-judge panel when it was rolled into the current case against him before another panel of appellate judges.
The justice responded to the inquires in the earlier case involving the hiring of his son, but his responses were not provided to the disciplinary counsel in violation of court rules, DeWine’s filing says.
The count involving his son’s job should be dismissed for failure to follow rules and because the special disciplinary counsel, Columbus lawyer Bradley Frick, might not have filed the charge if he had reviewed DeWine’s responses, said Mark Weaver, a Columbus lawyer representing the justice.
DeWine said he did not improperly use his office in asking Deters to hire his son, saying their families are longtime friends. Frick questioned if the hiring created a potential unlawful interest in a public contract.
DeWine’s filing also contended that Frick is seeking discipline against the justice not authorized by law, such as barring DeWine from handling cases involving the attorney general and Deters’ office.
The only available punishment for violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct consists of disbarment, suspension from the practice of law, probation or a public reprimand, the filing said.
The justice is not accused of “actual impropriety” involving any cases, just the “appearance of impropriety.”
Justice DeWine, a Republican who has served on the court since early 2017, argues that before his election he solicited advice from the Supreme Court’s ethics expert and another lawyer who advised him he did not need to disqualify himself from hearing cases involving his father unless the elder DeWine was personally handling the case in the courtroom.
The complaint accuses the justice of an impermissible conflict of interest. “Reasonable minds could easily conclude, especially in this politically sensitive time leading to the gubernatorial election, that the son will side with the father, no matter the issue. A reasonable mind could conclude that a litigant appearing before the Supreme Court, opposite an assistant attorney general, will not get an impartial decision.”
Attorney General Mike DeWine is opposing Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor for the Republican nomination for governor in the May 8 primary.