Ethics training recommended for judge

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Amy Salerno would undergo judicial-ethics training to avoid a one-year suspension under a disciplinary recommendation by the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Professional Conduct.

The Supreme Court will review the recommendation, which the board announced Monday, and make the final decision.

The recommendation is based on the findings of a three-member panel that conducted a June 14 hearing into allegations that Salerno engaged in misconduct in her handling of two cases.

The board recommended that Salerno be suspended from the practice of law for one year, but that the suspension be stayed on the conditions that she complete at least six hours of continuing education on judicial ethics, pay the $531 cost of the case and engage in no further misconduct.

In December, the Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel filed a complaint Salerno that accused the judge of:

• Conducting improper, secretive communications with a defense attorney before she reduced his client's bond in a drugtrafficking case.

• Changing her verdict in a traffic case from guilty to not guilty after becoming frustrated with the prosecutor.

Salerno admitted to the allegations and cooperated with the panel, which the board cited as a factor in the recommendation.

In the first case, Salerno lowered a man's bond from $350,000 to $85,000 in November 2016 based on text messages to her bailiff from the defense attorney and without consulting with the prosecutor's office.

In the second case, Salerno found a woman guilty of one traffic offense in February 2017 but said she would dismiss the woman's other traffic case rather than making her return for another trial.

When the prosecutor objected to the dismissal, Salerno reacted by finding the woman not guilty in the first case and setting a trial date for the other case.

“There is no dispute that (Salerno's) frustration and loss of her temper directly resulted in the change of the outcome of this particular case,” the board wrote.

The judge has one previous disciplinary finding against her. In 2015, the Supreme Court gave her a public reprimand after she criticized jurors for reaching the “wrong” verdict when they found a man not guilty of assault.

Salerno, a Republican who formerly served in the Ohio House, has been a Municipal Court judge since 2005.