Speaker 1: Gets me ready for the day at all day info
Speaker 1: and check in throughout the day. Fifty five krs the
Speaker 1: talk station eight oh five. If you're a fifty five
Speaker 1: kr CD talk station, Happy Friday. Oh. Brian Thomas right here,
Speaker 1: happy to welcome to the fifty five Carceee Morning. So
Speaker 1: you can find her online. Left in four judge dot
Speaker 1: com right there in the Republican Party recommended vote list,
Speaker 1: endorsed by the Republican Party. And taking great comfort I
Speaker 1: am in the fact that she's also been endorsed by
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police. Tough on crime running
Speaker 1: for Hamilton County Court of Appeals Judge first District, Stacey
Speaker 1: left and welcome to the morning show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Brian, good morning. I'm happy to be on
Speaker 2: the show this morning.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a pleasure having you on, and I really
Speaker 1: hope that you get elected. We need some folks that
Speaker 1: are tough on crime. You are demonstrably so let me
Speaker 1: just point out to my listeners. I love this. I
Speaker 1: hate hate child abuse. I think that's probably the most
Speaker 1: horrific crime that can be committed, is abusing an innocent child.
Speaker 1: Usually is very trusting of some adult. You deal with
Speaker 1: that all the time. You received the Outstanding Service Award
Speaker 1: from the Cincinna Children's Hospital Mayorson Center in honor of
Speaker 1: Child Abuse Awareness Month. And also and I love this
Speaker 1: award apparently from the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, the kick
Speaker 1: Ass Prosecutor of the Year twenty twenty three award as well.
Speaker 1: Well done there in terms of what looking out for children.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I got those awards last year because myself
Speaker 2: and my co counsel Ernest Lee and Rich Schneider and
Speaker 2: had a case involving John and Kate Snyder, who are
Speaker 2: a couple from Springfield Township who adopted six children from China.
Speaker 2: They abused all their children. They even had a biological child.
Speaker 2: They had three biological children, two and one of them
Speaker 2: they abused as well. And of the six kids from China,
Speaker 2: one diet of natural causes the first, and then the
Speaker 2: rest of them they abused, and one of them they
Speaker 2: actually killed. So last year, actually at this very time
Speaker 2: last year, we were in a we were in this trial.
Speaker 2: It lasted six weeks. We got a conviction which was terrific,
Speaker 2: and now Kate Snyder's doing thirty one years to life
Speaker 2: and John Snyder's doing twenty nine years to life for
Speaker 2: killing their son Adam and of using their other children.
Speaker 2: And because of our work with Children's Hospital and this case,
Speaker 2: that's why we got those awards. I got those wars
Speaker 2: last year and I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 1: Well, I would be too, I mean, demonstrably tough on crime.
Speaker 1: And apparently you're in front of a judge that at
Speaker 1: least had the wherewithal of sentence into some serious time.
Speaker 2: Yes, we were very thankful for that. It was a
Speaker 2: hard fought battle. These people fought us tooth and nail.
Speaker 2: At one point, the couple even tried to sue the
Speaker 2: coroner's office to get the cause of death changed because
Speaker 2: they wanted to they wanted to say Children's Hospital was
Speaker 2: at fault. It was a long heart Hollard fought battle. Well.
Speaker 1: To my listeners, you might not understand the distinction. As
Speaker 1: a common please judge versus working in the appellate level,
Speaker 1: you're going to be dealing with both criminal and civil matters. Correct.
Speaker 2: Correct, criminal civil. I will handle cases from municipal court,
Speaker 2: common police court, the domestic relations court and juvenile court.
Speaker 2: You here, it's a reviewing court, so anything any hearing
Speaker 2: that goes on in any of those courts. If someone
Speaker 2: wants to appeal it, it goes to our Court of Appeals.
Speaker 1: And why do you view the role of judge. I
Speaker 1: know we have activist judges, which I am not a
Speaker 1: fan of, and we have more traditionalist judges who review
Speaker 1: the facts and the case law and judge things accordingly
Speaker 1: based upon the law. They do not rewrite laws. If
Speaker 1: there are flaws or constitutional issues in connection with the law,
Speaker 1: it's identified and it's basically referred back to the legislative
Speaker 1: brands to do the fixing. That's the way things are
Speaker 1: supposed to work, at least in my mind. What's your perception.
Speaker 2: I feel like the reason why I am personally running
Speaker 2: for judge is we've had all these jug budges who
Speaker 2: go about they want to change the law. I am
Speaker 2: going to follow the law. I'm going to follow the
Speaker 2: constitution of the State of Ohio and the United States,
Speaker 2: and I don't want You know, the reason why I
Speaker 2: ran is that that case that I got all those
Speaker 2: awards for, I was scared that it was going to
Speaker 2: go off to our Court of Appeals and be reversed.
Speaker 2: Oh and I didn't want to see that happen.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Oh no, no, no, I was just going
Speaker 1: to say, I mean, what possible grounds could it have
Speaker 1: been reversed if you didn't have an appropriate makeup on
Speaker 1: the appellate court?
Speaker 2: Well, prior to my trial going forward last year, there
Speaker 2: was a trial murder case that went through that one
Speaker 2: of the judges up in common and please just decided
Speaker 2: to reverse it because he decided the jurors didn't make
Speaker 2: the right decision. And I don't know how he can
Speaker 2: make that determination. He didn't see the witnesses testify, right,
Speaker 2: He didn't get to go to the scene like the
Speaker 2: jurors got to do. He didn't get to hold the
Speaker 2: evidence in his hand. He didn't hear the tone of
Speaker 2: the voices of the witnesses who were testifying. Was a
Speaker 2: one dimensional item, was a transcript. I know myself and
Speaker 2: the job that I do as a prosecutor, which I've
Speaker 2: been doing for almost twenty years now. You know, we
Speaker 2: get interviews all the time and we get them transcribed,
Speaker 2: and reading the transcript is a lot quicker than listening
Speaker 2: to them. But listening to them, you seem body language,
Speaker 2: you see the tone in their voice, and that goes
Speaker 2: to their credibility. And if you don't watch those items,
Speaker 2: and if you just go from a one dimensional transcript,
Speaker 2: I don't know how you can determine that twelve people
Speaker 2: that witnessed all these people testify made the wrong decision.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to have respect for the jurors. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what they're there for. You know, I was only
Speaker 1: a criminal Well, yeah, criminal trial. Guy pressed charges against guy.
Speaker 1: It was basically he said, she said kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But it came down to witness credibility. The guy that
Speaker 1: was loving the charges claimed he got assault and assaulted,
Speaker 1: and after hearing him speak and what his recitation and
Speaker 1: events were, and then hearing from the other guy, it
Speaker 1: was obvious who was lying. We all walked into the
Speaker 1: jury room. I said, is there anybody who here who
Speaker 1: doesn't have reasonable doubt? And everybody looked at me and
Speaker 1: said nope. I said, we're done. We deliberated like a minute.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what the jury does, and how a
Speaker 1: judge could overrule that and without seeing the witnesses or
Speaker 1: hearing them is beyond me. But isn't there a legal
Speaker 1: standard for the review of evidence on an appellate level?
Speaker 2: Yes, there is, but they also, you know, we have
Speaker 2: activists judges upstairs, and if they're they're kind of I
Speaker 2: want to say, when I first started working down here
Speaker 2: in two thousand and one, I worked for a judge
Speaker 2: and when the prosecutors came in the room, they were
Speaker 2: well respected by the court. We are not well respected
Speaker 2: by the court anymore. We walk into the court room
Speaker 2: and they are automatically think we've done something wrong. We
Speaker 2: haven't provided something without even knowing, and so we go
Speaker 2: up when our cases go upstairs, it's all we already
Speaker 2: have a mark against us before they even read anything.
Speaker 2: And a lot of those judges haven't been trial courts,
Speaker 2: shootors or attorneys. They've just been like one was a
Speaker 2: clerk over or a law clerk for one of the judges.
Speaker 2: They haven't tried cases. They haven't heard cases actually being tried.
Speaker 2: They just hear argument. So they have a different perspective
Speaker 2: than someone like myself who's spent twenty years in the courtroom.
Speaker 2: Over twenty years in the courtroom.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, we seem to have a lot of that
Speaker 1: going on with the prosecutor's race right now here in
Speaker 1: Hamilton County. Allow me to interject Melissa Powers for Hamilton
Speaker 1: County Prosecute. We need to keep her in that role
Speaker 1: because she's tough on crime as well. Well, yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess for those so many people just maybe either don't
Speaker 1: vote down ballot or they'll simply vote party ticket. And
Speaker 1: in connection with someone who's literally never tried a case
Speaker 1: or done nothing beyond being legal a law clerk for
Speaker 1: someone else, how that person could get elected is really
Speaker 1: to me, having practiced law and been in courtrooms for
Speaker 1: sixteen years, you know that's really important. I could never
Speaker 1: cast a vote for someone with that little experience, especially
Speaker 1: on an appellate level. That's the problem with you know,
Speaker 1: the endorsement in us being in Hamilton County blue. If
Speaker 1: if she's on or he is on the blue ticket,
Speaker 1: someone will just vote because of that and nothing else.
Speaker 2: Right. We actually, I've been spending some time down at
Speaker 2: the Board of Elections at the polls. You know, now
Speaker 2: that early voting has started, people just I stand there.
Speaker 2: I will say that there are a lot more people
Speaker 2: coming over and wanting the pink sheet, which is fabulous
Speaker 2: and I'm thankful for that, but you're right, people do
Speaker 2: just go get the blue sheet and they vote straight
Speaker 2: down that ticket and they don't know who they're voting for.
Speaker 2: I think you need to ask people who are in
Speaker 2: the court system, not not like someone handing out a
Speaker 2: blue sheet. Call it. If you know people who practice
Speaker 2: law in the court system, ask them, get their recommendations.
Speaker 2: They'll know who to vote for.
Speaker 1: That's very important. I mean, well, right, it may be
Speaker 1: a little problematic. I know how little people care about
Speaker 1: politics generally speaking, and then to dive into an area
Speaker 1: where they have no experience and hopefully will have no
Speaker 1: experience ever, the judicial system. You know, getting folks to
Speaker 1: ask questions on these down ballot rates can be problematic.
Speaker 1: But you do you are on the pink slip. You
Speaker 1: are endorsed by the Republican Party, and I know for
Speaker 1: my listeners that probably will be enough. But I will
Speaker 1: encourage folks to go to lefton for Judge dot com
Speaker 1: and check out your credentials as well, I mean, really
Speaker 1: a great background, qualified to do the job.
Speaker 2: Yes, And on my website left and for Judge dot
Speaker 2: Com there are I linked some of my cases that
Speaker 2: I've had in the past. Yeah, I had you talked
Speaker 2: about my Snyder case. There was also I had a
Speaker 2: case last year as well. A man named Diland Hurt,
Speaker 2: who was a known killer. He had killed a lot
Speaker 2: of people. They hadn't been able to have enough evidence
Speaker 2: to go forward on him. Last year we were able
Speaker 2: to try him and he is as he's doing life
Speaker 2: without the possibility of parole now because of his killing
Speaker 2: of one person and attempted murder on two others. Actually
Speaker 2: one of the other people. He's paralyzed for life. And
Speaker 2: that case was crazy. We tried. It was a little
Speaker 2: over weak. He acted out in court. He punched his
Speaker 2: attorney at one point. He had tried to have drugs
Speaker 2: smuggled in through pants because he peede himself during trial
Speaker 2: and he had to get a new set of pants,
Speaker 2: and his family brought pants in and there were drugs
Speaker 2: stown into it. I mean, the things that I have
Speaker 2: seen in the past year, and the hard fought battles
Speaker 2: I had last year with these really bad people is
Speaker 2: what drove me to decide to run for offit.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you are running, and I'm glad to
Speaker 1: have you on the program, and I will strongly encourage
Speaker 1: my listeners do some research. I mean, as far as
Speaker 1: I'm concerned, go ahead and trust to think slip as
Speaker 1: I have just got done saying people will just trust
Speaker 1: the blue slip and vote for the Democrat. You are
Speaker 1: voting for someone who is undoubtedly woke and someone who
Speaker 1: is not going to be tough on crime if you
Speaker 1: do that. If you want traditional judge, you want someone
Speaker 1: who understands the practice. You want someone who is not
Speaker 1: going to try to rewrite laws or do something crazy
Speaker 1: like dismiss Jersey. Evaluation of the evidence and witness testimony.
Speaker 1: You know you're in the right hands with a states
Speaker 1: left in here. Can I just point out one more
Speaker 1: thing about your background, because it took me way back.
Speaker 1: Your family owned Provident Camera.
Speaker 2: Yes, my family and Provident Camera. That was my first job,
Speaker 2: was working. I used to go down on Saturday mornings
Speaker 2: with my dad and I would help out in the store,
Speaker 2: and for my work, I would get twenty dollars for
Speaker 2: the day, which I thought was very exciting when I
Speaker 2: was younger.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I used I'd love going in there. That
Speaker 1: was the best camera store around forever. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's just weird to see with digital photography the way
Speaker 1: things have changed. I'm sorry to take you down that road,
Speaker 1: but I had a little wisp of nostalgia when I
Speaker 1: saw that, because I had an olympus om one when
Speaker 1: I was in junior high school and I used to
Speaker 1: stare longingly at you know, telephoto lenses and auto winder
Speaker 1: stuff I could never have afforded, but it was always
Speaker 1: right there. It was drool candy for me when I
Speaker 1: as a young man. Anyway, Stacy left in vote for
Speaker 1: her appellate court. It's right there at lefton at theft
Speaker 1: one for judge dot Com. I wish you all the
Speaker 1: best as we fast approach the election.
Speaker 2: Stacy, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: It's been my distinct pleasure. And Hardy one you do
Speaker 1: the same, and that wonderful weekend.
Speaker 2: Uh.
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