I mean the judges are more sensitive to the impact their decisions will have on voters. Defense attorney Elizabeth Agar, who has practiced in Hamilton County since 1980, says party lines reveal little about judges. The real significance of Republican control of the courthouse, according to Agar, is in non-judicial offices. Probably on the order of 85 to 90 percent of cases are disposed of by plea bargains. You see the influence in what kind of pleas will be offered and what kind of sentences will be sought.
Prosecutors have responsibility for enforcing the law.
In Hamilton County, Republican prosecutors also have a tradition of influencing the law. The prosecutor's office under Joe Deters led the push to have the purposeful killing of children under 13 eligible for the death penalty, and Hamilton County has treated more of these kinds of abuse cases as capital cases. Current Prosecutor Michael Allen, like his predecessor Deters, has a record of seeking the death penalty in cases that might be handled less aggressively in other counties. The surrounding counties are far less likely to seek the death penalty. Hamilton County is more likely to seek it and more likely to get it.