Judge sanctioned for FB messages
PORT CLINTON – An Ohio Supreme Court panel sanctioned Judge Bruce Winters of Ottawa County Common Pleas Court for failing to disclose private messages on social media exchanged with Keith Blumensaadt, who at the time had pending criminal and civil cases in the court.
In an announcement issued Tuesday, the state high court ordered a sixmonth suspension against Winters be stayed on the condition that he complete at least three hours of judicial ethics education, engage in no further misconduct and pay the court costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
The order specifies that the education be on the subject of “ex parte” communications, or appropriate use of social media by judicial officers, and that, if Winters fails to comply with any condition of the stay, he will have to serve the entire six-month suspension.
According to the complaint initially filed in September by disciplinary counsel before the Board of Professional Conduct of the Ohio Supreme Court, Winters reportedly exchanged several messages with Blumensaadt through Facebook Messenger that referenced four then-ongoing cases that Winters was presiding over at the time.
According to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, Winters and Blumensaadt exchanged messages concerning:
h Criminal charges against a man whom Blumensaadt claimed had sold his daughter heroin;
h Alcohol-related criminal charges of a man whose vehicle struck and injured Blumensaadt, and the subsequent personal-injury case Blumensaadt intended to file;
h Modification of a civil stalking protection order secured by Blumensaadt’s family so that Blumensaadt could attend his mother’s funeral and other functions;
h Modification of a divorce decree that granted Blumensaadt custody of his son.
The board’s summary stated that before Winters began his law career, he was a probation officer for the Ottawa County Juvenile Court and served as Blumensaadt’s probation officer in the early 1980s.
Winters testified he had minimal contact with Blumensaadt for nearly 30 years until he presided over Blumensaadt’s criminal case stemming from a standoff with police in June 2017.
In 2019, Blumensaadt pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a weapon under disability and attempted possession of a dangerous ordnance.
As a result of the Facebook messages with Blumensaadt, which occurred between August and December of 2019, the complaint cited alleged misconduct by Winters for receiving ex parte communication.
Based on the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, ex parte communication refers to communication concerning a pending matter between one party and the court when opposing counsel or another party is not present. It can also refer to any other communication made to a judge outside the presence of the concerning parties or their attorneys.
Rules established in the Ohio Code of
Judicial Conduct prohibit a judge from initiating, receiving, permitting or considering ex parte communications, except in certain circumstances.
Those exemptions include for scheduling, consulting with court staff, when administering a specialized docket, or with the consent of the concerning parties.
If a judge receives an unauthorized ex parte communication related to the substance of a case matter, the judge is required to promptly notify the concerning parties and provide them with an opportunity to respond.
In each of the four counts outlined in the complaint, the disciplinary counsel found that Winters violated that rule, to which the Ohio Supreme Court panel all unanimously agreed.
The panel also noted that they recognized “Winters accepted responsibility for his misconduct, cooperated fully with the subsequent investigation into the matter,” and that he “had taken steps to remediate his conduct by terminating his social media accounts,” which were among the reasons the suspension was conditionally stayed.
Winters could not be reached for comment Wednesday. jstinchcom@gannett.com 419-680-4897