Federal judge: No jail as suspended Ohio judge appeals

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge has granted a suspended juvenile court judge’s request to delay her six-month jail sentence as she further appeals her 2014 conviction for unlawful interest in a public contract.

The judge granted the order a day before Judge Tracie Hunter was scheduled to begin her sentence today after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled not to hear her appeal.

Hunter’s lawyers told the federal court that she didn’t receive a fair trial in 2014. They allege prosecutorial misconduct and mistakes by the Hamilton County trial judge.

Hunter’s lawyers also say a jail sentence would aggravate Hunter’s health problems that stem partly from a car accident when she was a college student.

Calls seeking comment were left today with the special prosecutor and the Hamilton County court in Hunter’s case.