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Disciplinary Counsel v. O'Neill9/7/2004
sition on the Tenth District Court of Appeals in November 2002 and she is a candidate for a seat on the Tenth District Court of Appeals in the November 2004 election.
316. As a member of the Franklin County Common Pleas bench Judge O'Neill has actively pursued educating middle and high school students about the legal system. In 1993 she created the "Judge in the Classroom" program. On Friday mornings she gives presentations at schools and on other weekdays she hosts groups of students for observation in her courtroom. Since 1993 she has made over 400 presentations in 63 different schools. Janet Newlon, a seventh grade social studies teacher in Grove City testified that Judge O'Neill's presentations in her classes helped a lot and really added to their study of government.
317. Judge O'Neill testified that the efficient management of her docket is very important to her. In statistics submitted for the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for the years 1992- August 2003 (Respondent's Exhibit E) Judge O'Neill consistently ranks first in lowest number of criminal cases pending and often second in the lowest number of civil cases. Respondent maintained approximately 70 to 145 fewer criminal cases than the average criminal caseload for the Court. In August 2003 Judge O'Neill had 72 criminal cases pending while the court average was 217.
318. The panel heard character testimony from court employees Greg Mounts, Brian Stein and Sherry Mitchell. Mounts and Stein are Judge O'Neill's assigned probation officers and both testified they had good working relationships with Judge O'Neill and found her courteous and professional. Mitchell served as the Court's IT Manager for seven years through 2003. Mitchell testified that her contacts with Judge O'Neill were not regular but were always professional and appropriate and that Judge O'Neill had once mediated a dispute between Mitchell and court reporter Nyce. Mitchell was delegated to arrange special training for Elsa Cunbow in word processing and testified Elsa had trouble with basic word processing functions such as saving over auto-text or forgetting where a document was saved.
319. Character testimony was submitted from lawyers who had practiced before Judge O'Neill. James Arnold testified to a civil trial Judge O'Neill recently presided over that he believed had been professionally handled and Dale Perdue testified his experience with Judge O'Neill in civil pretrial conferences was appropriate. Regarding criminal cases lawyers Lewis E. Williams Jr. (also a former judge), Todd Barstow, Beverly Farlow, Jeff Berndt, Mark Hunt, David Young, and Christopher M. Cooper testified to having cases before Judge O'Neill ranging from 'time to time' to 5-6 times a year. None of them had observed Judge O'Neill act in an unprofessional manner and believed she was a fair and hard-working judge.
320. Kelly Green (present staff attorney), Margaret Meckling (present bailiff) testified about their good working relationships with Judge O'Neill and their observations of her preparation and competence on the bench.
321. Respondent has maintained throughout these proceedings that the charges made in the Amended Complaint were not brought out of any real concern about any individual case but as part of a political agenda. The panel has endeavored throughout the hearing to determine from the evidence submitted and the sworn testimony of witnesses whether there is any validity or relevance to this claim. Respondent testified that three Republican judges, Judge Cain, Judge Miller and Judge Watson solicited these complaints and gathered this information and that "the whole collection over a period of time smacks of partisan politics." (
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