Judge removed from office

Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the charge in the Elkins' case leading to the recusal issue with Judge Ickes. FREMONT — A Sandusky County Common Pleas Court judge was removed from office. The Ohio Supreme Court announced Wednesday morning that it suspended Judge Jon Ickes for two years without pay due to several judicial conduct violations, including presiding over two cases in which he had a "glaring conflict of interest" and "cultivating an unprofessional workplace environment." The state supreme court, as a result, ordered him to be "immediately" removed from office. Ickes was first disciplined by the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, a division of the Ohio Supreme Court responsible for handling complaints against lawyers and judges, in October 2024. The disciplinary counsel, an arm of the state supreme court that handles investigations, initially investigated Ickes in response to allegations against him and subsequently cited him for six violations of judicial conduct. These violations included allegations of harassing a pregnant employee, fostering an unprofessional work environment, using a racial slur, making inappropriate comments about a child rape case, not recusing himself in certain situations and engaging in conduct that compromised his ability to practice law. About a year later, last October, the board recommended to the Ohio Supreme Court a one-year suspension of Ickes' law license and found that he committed 10 of the 17 charged judicial rule violations. The suspension would be entirely stayed provided that Ickes did not engage in any additional misconduct. But the majority of the state supreme court — Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justice Patrick Fischer, Fourth District Appeals Court Judge Michael Hess (sitting in for Justice Jennifer Brunner), Justice Daniel Hawkins and Justice Megan Shanahan — believed a full two-year suspension was necessary for Ickes. The justices in the minority were: • Justice R. Patrick DeWine, who argued for a one-year suspension with six months of that stayed on the condition of no further misconduct • Justice Joseph Deters, who argued for a two-year suspension with all of the two years stayed on the condition that he engage in no further misconduct and complete anti-harassment training. "An actual suspension is necessary to protect the public and demonstrate that we will not tolerate the childish, inappropriate and vulgar behavior Ickes exhibited in chambers and in the courtroom," the majority justices wrote, adding that a judge must be held to a higher standard and that punishment for a judge's misconduct should be "more, not less, severe." What happened? Via the state supreme court's written opinion, the various allegations against Ickes include the following: • Ickes told the pregnant employee, "Wait until the titty fairy comes." The employee told Ickes she was upset by the comment, and Ickes agreed not to repeat it. The employee, who later left her role in Ickes' office, testified that she felt her job and health care benefits could have been in jeopardy if the situation with Ickes was escalating. • He kept a firearm in his desk and made jokes about shooting staff members. • He used the term "Snatchchat" when reading jury instructions to jurors, combining the name of a social media app — Snapchat — with a vulgar term for female genitalia • Referring to a courthouse employee as "pimple d---" • Said the n-word while quoting the movie "Blazing Saddles" in earshot of a Black defendant • A Sandusky County Jail probation officer suffered an overdose, fell and hit her head after fentanyl found on a person she was patting down became airborne. After the suspect with the drug was convicted, Ickes purportedly visited the probation office and criticized the probation officer for not testifying, calling her a "dumbass" in front of colleagues. The court also noted how Ickes failed to recuse himself in two criminal cases in his court, leading to convictions for one defendant accused of a an assault — Curtis Elkins — and the other accused of child rape — Leroy Stratton — both having their sentences overturned on appeal. Investigators said a prosecution witness in both cases, Fremont police Detective Christian Ortolani, testified in both cases. Ortolani is Ickes' stepson, and the judge did not disclose his relation to the detective in either case. Both defendants were convicted but had their sentences overturned on appeal and remanded back to the court for further proceedings. The state supreme court justices categorize this as "not only wasted prosecutorial, public defender and judicial resources but also caused incalculable harm to public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary." "His misconduct also left Elkins, Stratton and their victims to endure a second trial," the justices added. "Consequently, Ickes' actions tainted the public's trust," their decision states. Ickes' "conduct toward (the pregnant employee), women in general and especially defendants and victims undermined the credibility of and public faith in the government, impeded the common good and were not in the best interests of the American people." What now? It wasn't immediately clear what would happen next for Ickes' court. It's possible another judge would be called on to take over his cases, but it wasn't immediately clear who that would be. Ickes' term in office was set to run out at the end of this year and he ran unopposed in a May Republican primary to seek re-election. It wasn't immediately clear who would replace him on the ballot. It's possible that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could appoint a replacement judge pending the next general election, but that was also unclear as of Wednesday. Sharie Chagnon-Murray, deputy director for the Sandusky County Board of Elections, said Wednesday afternoon that her office was still awaiting an answer from the Sandusky County prosecutor's office, which serves as their legal counsel, on how to best proceed. A request for comment from county prosecutor Beth Tischler was not answered by deadline Wednesday.