Ex-Ohio judge dragged from court after being ordered to be taken into custody

Tensions reportedly flared inside a Cincinnati courthouse on Monday as a bailiff dragged a former judge out of the courtroom after she was ordered to be taken into custody. The chaotic scene occurred after a judge announced his decision regarding Tracie Hunter’s 2014 conviction and six-month sentence for using her ex-job as judge to help a family member. Hunter, a former juvenile court judge, had been convicted for improperly giving information to her brother during a job dispute, NBC News reported. NBC noted that the conviction was followed by several appeals, as well as many letters and recommendations urging Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker not to sentence Hunter.

But Dinkelacker on Monday ordered Hunter to serve the six-month jail sentence, prompting an eruption from protesters inside the courtroom. Video shows one individual wearing a "Justice for Judge Tracie M. Hunter" T-shirt being apprehended by police officers as she rushed to where Hunter was seated. Hunter then refused to move, leading a bailiff to physically drag her across the courtroom floor as protesters shouted their disapproval. Stephen Hunter, a youth corrections officer and the former judge's brother, allegedly struck a teen while he was working in 2013. The incident led his boss to recommend his dismissal. Prosecutors later accused Tracie Hunter of improperly requesting documents about the teenager before passing them on to her brother.

Hunter has maintained her innocence, saying Sunday that she "violated no laws." "I did not secure a public contract, I did not secure employment for my brother who worked for the court for about seven years before I was elected judge," she told NBC affiliate WLWT. "They need to drop these unrighteous and I believe unlawful charges against me."

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/454235-ex-ohio-judge-dragged-from-court-after-being-ordered-to-be-taken-into