In Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, Judge Megan Shanahan keeps the air conditioning blasting and her docket moving. She dashes between her chambers and the courtroom so fast that the bailiff doesn’t have time to call “All Rise!”
Shanahan is proud of how she runs her courtroom. When asked to talk about cases that show what kind of judge she is, Shanahan points to two examples where she kept the wheels of justice turning.
More: Ohio Supreme Court election has 6 candidates running for 3 seats
When former University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing was tried for murder of an unarmed Black motorist, Shanahan said she managed the case amid intense media and community attention. It ended in a hung jury and mistrial, but Shanahan said she worked to ensure a fair, expeditious trial. A second trial also ended in a hung jury. The university paid Tensing nearly $350,000 to settle a union grievance he brought.
And when she heard a complex medical malpractice trial against Christ Hospital, Shanahan noted that she kept her docket moving despite the trial lasting seven weeks in 2022. It ended in a hung jury and Shanahan was set to hold a second trial when the parties settled the case.
Now, Shanahan, a Republican, wants to move up to the Ohio Supreme Court. She is challenging incumbent Justice Michael Donnelly, a Cleveland Democrat. Voters will decide in November who gets a six-year term.
Ohio Supreme Court race: Who is Justice Michael Donnelly?
Who is Judge Megan Shanahan?
Shanahan, 51, changed majors in college, diverting from a plan to become a pilot to studying political science at Kent State University and going on to earn a law degree from University of Cincinnati.
She started her career as an assistant prosecutor in Butler County but after five years on the job she knew she wanted to be a judge. She moved to Hamilton County where there are more judgeships and worked for then Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters, who is now a supreme court justice.
“I ran campaigns, year after year, hoping to get the opportunity to one day be the candidate,” she said.
She lost a municipal court race in 2010 but won her second race in 2011. Then in 2015, Republican John Kasich appointed her to a vacant seat on the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
Now she has her eyes set on the Ohio Supreme Court.
“It is the pinnacle of a judge’s career, I feel,” she said. “But not only that, this is about our state and where it’s headed. It’s about judges like my opponent, Mike Donnelly, being judges who are legislating from the bench.”
‘Legislating from the bench’ is a charge that Republican jurists often lob at their Democratic opponents.
“When you are a judge and you decide the law shouldn’t say that or I don’t think the legislature really meant that, so I’m doing to do this other thing, because I want to promote my position or my agenda or what I think the law should be, that’s legislating from the bench,” Shanahan said. “That is when our system fails.”
Shanahan pointed to one example of where she thinks Donnelly imposed his personal views on a case, rather than a strict reading of the law or constitution.
In January 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a 4-3 order that said excessive bail is unconstitutional. When setting money bail, judges should only consider whether the defendant is a flight risk – not the seriousness of the crime or public safety concerns, the opinion said. Donnelly voted with the majority on the case.
That led to tough-on-crime Republicans to push for constitutional amendment to require courts setting bail to consider public safety, a person’s criminal record, the likelihood the defendant will show up for court and the seriousness of the offense.
Shanahan campaigned in favor of the amendment, which voters approved in November 2022.
Abortion cases
Abortion cases are more likely to find their way to the Ohio Supreme Court now that the Dobbs ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court said abortion restrictions are up to states to decide. Likewise, Ohio voters in 2023 approved a constitutional amendment covering reproductive rights. So, any legal questions regarding how that amendment should be interpreted and applied will likely be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Democrats running for the supreme court are endorsed by Planned Parenthood while the Republicans are backed by Ohio Right to Life.
All six candidates said they pledge to follow the constitution and law.
‘You can’t do justice by spreadsheet’
The Ohio Sentencing Commission canceled a contract with University of Cincinnati that aimed to get judges to use the same, uniform criminal sentencing form. The ultimate goal for the sentencing data project was to allow for a statewide look at criminal sentencing trends and be able to answer questions about racial bias, geographical differences and overall fairness.
Donnelly strongly supports the effort. Shanahan does not.
“It should be left to the province of the judges we elect on how they manage their cases and impose sentences,” she said. “One other topic that was touched on with that project: Who owns the data? Who manages the data? Who decides what data goes in, how it’s compiled and spit back out? Are we going to turn that over the Google to take care of? You can’t do justice by spreadsheet.”
Shanahan’s key cases
Open Court Records: Shanahan agreed to let Cincinnati police officer Ryan Olthaus proceed with a lawsuit under a pseudonym and approved a restraining order blocking community activists from releasing personal info about him. The Cincinnati Enquirer and UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh sued to have the case unsealed and Olthaus’ name on the records. The supreme court, including Donnelly, voted unanimously to overturn that decision, ruling that the officer couldn’t pursue a lawsuit anonymously.
Death Penalty: In 2016, a jury found Glenn Bates guilty of murdering his two-year-old daughter and Shanahan sentenced him to death. Evidence showed the toddler had been beaten and starved before she died. The Ohio Supreme Court overturned the case, based on Bates receiving ineffective legal counsel. In 2023, Bates pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Banking Contracts: In a case closely watched by Ohio’s banking industry, the supreme court will decide who is right: Shanahan or the First District Court of Appeals. Raymond Schneider personally guaranteed a $77 million loan from Huntington National Bank to his business but when the business defaulted, Schneider argued that he didn’t owe anything because he was a “surety” under the contract, not a guarantor. He also argued that he was duped into signing the agreement and the bank knew it. Shanahan’s decision backed the bank. The appellate court sided with Schneider. Oral arguments in the case have yet to be scheduled.
Laura A. Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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Publish date : 2024-09-10 12:20:00
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