Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, is calling for the end of Joe Deters’ rein as a part-time prosecutor who has boosted his compensation immensely as a private attorney since 2009.
Burke issued the statement in response to the CityBeat article, “Hamilton County’s part-time prosecutor,” that ran Sept. 7. The article detailed how Deters earned almost $2 million while working for the defunct law firm of the disbarred Stan Chesley and is now working for the suspended lawyer Eric Deters.
Moreover, the article offered examples of how Deters’ forays into private practice have led to awkward, if not ethically conflicting, situations in court.
In one case, Deters — in one of his roles as prosecutor — represented a judge, Robert Ruehlman, who was taken to task by the Ohio Supreme Court for improperly protecting Chesley from a $42 million collection effort. Chesley paid Deters $200,000 a year for five years and let him live in his condo rent-free. Ruehlman was also overturned by a state appeals court for issuing an undue ruling in favor of Deters’ private clients in the high-profile Durrani malpractice affair. Both opinions were handed down this summer.
Burke says Deters has “carried those ethical issues over the edge.”
“It is time for that to end,” he says. “It is time to elect a full-time prosecutor who won’t have those ethical problems.”
A spokeswoman for Deters did not respond to three email and telephone requests for comment Monday.
A Republican, Deters has served two stints as prosecutor, the last beginning in 2005. His Democratic opponent, former assistant city prosecutor and municipal magistrate Alan Triggs, says he would work full-time if elected Nov. 8.
“The incumbent doesn’t see it that way, and that must change,” Burke says.
Of Ohio’s 10 biggest counties by population, Hamilton is the only one with a part-time prosecutor. By law, Deters earns $37,000 a year less than he would if he were full-time. He has more than made up that sacrifice through his sideline ventures.
The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association does not maintain a list of full-time and part-time prosecutors in the state’s 88 counties.
“All I can do is give you a guess,” says John Murphy, the association’s executive director. “I’d say 10 or 12 or 15, maybe. We have a large county and several medium and small counties. A lot of it depends on how much help they have
“Over the last 20 or 30 years, it’s been a trend toward full-time,” he says.
This article appears in Sep 7-14, 2016.