- Ohio Judge Timothy Grendell faces potential suspension from the bench following accusations of misconduct.
- The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct recommends at least a year-long suspension for Grendell’s actions, including the inappropriate detention of minors.
- Grendell’s case highlights the lengthy process of judicial disciplinary action.
More than two years after Ohio’s disciplinary counsel filed a stunning complaint against him, Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy Grendell will plead with the Ohio Supreme Court to keep him on the bench.
The seven-member Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the disciplinary case Feb. 13 and then decide, likely months later, what discipline Grendell deserves.
The case and its lengthy timeline illustrate how time consuming it is to remove an elected judge from the bench.
Jonathan Entin, a retired Case Western Reserve University law professor, said the disciplinary process is slow for good reason. “You want to protect the target of a complaint against some arbitrary punishment. So the process plays out in stages.”
In October 2024, the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct recommended that Grendell be suspended without pay from serving as a judge for at least a year.
The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct recommended an 18-month suspension of Grendell’s law license with six months of it stayed if he refrains from additional misconduct.
What is he accused of?
Grendell is accused of inappropriately incarcerating two boys who refused to visit their estranged father, blocking a mother from administering COVID-19 tests on her children and violating other judicial ethics.
When the boys, ages 13 and 15, refused, Grendell had them held in a juvenile detention center for three days under maximum restrictions.
The detention deeply affected both children. One of the boys died in a motorcycle accident in May 2023 after dropping out of school and moving to Florida. He was 18 years old.
Grendell’s actions showed “a decided ignorance of the law at best, and an intentional disregard for the law at worst,” according to the Board of Professional Conduct’s report. “Neither is acceptable for a sitting judge.”
The hearing on Grendell’s case spanned nine days and generated 3,000 pages of transcripts and 267 exhibits. The case against Grendell was filed in November 2022; a hearing scheduled for October 2023 was held in spring 2024; and the disciplinary counsel made its recommendation in October 2024.
In January, the Geauga County Board of Commissioners denied Grendell’s request that the county pay $300,000 for his legal fees.
Grendell replaced his wife, Diane, in the Ohio House in 2000 when she left due to term limits. He served in the General Assembly until 2011 when Gov. John Kasich appointed him to the Geauga County Common Pleas Court bench in the probate and juvenile division.
Included in the disciplinary case against Grendell is that in June 2020 he testified on his wife’s bill that would’ve required the state health department to report COVID-19 statistics daily. Judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from testifying before legislative bodies unless it’s about something related to the legal system or the judge’s legal expertise.
Grendell’s legislative testimony “abused the prestige of his office to garner personal, political advantages for himself and his wife,” according to the disciplinary case.
Grendell maintains that his testimony was protected by the First Amendment.
“Tim Grendell has been a source of controversies for a while,” Entin said. “He was very outspoken when he was in the Legislature. He has strong views on a lot of things. That aspect of his personality came with him to the bench.”
Grendell will be 72 this year. Judicial age limits block him from seeking another term on the court. His current term expires in February 2027.
If the Supreme Court agrees with the Board of Professional Conduct’s recommended sanction, Grendell would not be eligible to serve on the bench or as a lawyer for a year. After that, he could apply for reinstatement of his law license.
Laura 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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