Issue 1 would extend age limit for judges

Cutoff age for election  is 70; passing Issue I would extend it to 75.

Staff photo by Teesha McClam Dayton Municipal Court Judge John Pickrel, 66, faces mandatory  retirement at the end of his 6-year term.

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By Ken McCall and Lou Grieco
Staff Writers Updated 11:34 PM Saturday, October 22, 2011

Dayton Municipal Judge John Pickrel will be watching how Ohio Issue 1 does on next month’s ballot. His career plans depend on it.

“It’s close to me,” Pickrel said, who at age 66 is in his last term under the current system. “I’ve got a little over three years left.”

Currently, the Ohio Constitution does not allow judges to be elected or appointed if they are 70 or older at the start of their six-year term, meaning most judges face mandatory retirement by age 75. The amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot would raise that age to 75, allowing judges to serve into their late 70s or early 80s.

Critics, including the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio County Prosecutors Association, say that’s too old, and there is no reason to change the current system. But even if voters decide not to allow judges to run for office once they pass 70, plenty of retired judges in their 70s and even 80s will continue to preside over proceedings in Ohio courts.

Those judges are appointed on a case-by-case basis, often when the regular judges face an overburdened docket, an extended trial, an illness or vacation, or a recusal for a conflict of interest. Until recently, the age limit for retired judge service was 80, though Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a supporter of Issue 1, recently waived that limit.

Retired judges older than 70 presided over almost 11,000 court assignments — many lasting for weeks or months — from 2008 through 2010, and were paid $3.25 million, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of data from the Ohio Supreme Court. Judges over 70 got almost half of all assignments and payments to retired judges.

Judges older than 75, most barred from holding office under the current system, took 953 court assignments during the three years and were paid $1.2 million for work on 4,247 days.

Nine 80-year-old judges worked 460 days on court assignments during that period and were paid $106,708, the Daily News analysis found.

The most active judge over 75 during the period was Retired Judge Thomas Charles Nurre. Nurre, who is now 81, was paid $147,574 for 429 days of work from 2008 to 2010.

Nurre, who served as a Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge for decades before his retirement at age 73 in 2003 and continues to take temporary assignments, said he supports Issue 1.

“I wish I’d had that opportunity,” Nurre said. “I’m a little jealous, but I think it’s appropriate.”

$60 an hour

All told, 155 retired judges in Ohio billed for more than 29,000 days worked on court assignments in the three years studied, the analysis found, and earned $6.8 million.

Retired judges are paid a standard rate for the court in question, said Brian Farrington, a statistics analyst for the Supreme Court of Ohio. The pay of judges has been frozen since 2007, Farrington said, so a common pleas court judge would be paid $485.44 a day or $60.68 an hour. Appelate court judges make $528 a day, he said.

Harry Adolphus Hanna made the most of all the retired judges, taking in $304,432 for 655 days of work, exclusively in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland.

Stephen Alfred Yarbrough worked more days than any retired judge during the period, but many of his were partial days. In the three years, Yarbrough worked 1,462 days and was paid $300,487. Although he lives in Lucas County, Yarbrough worked in 10 different counties — including Montgomery, Preble and Butler counties — during the three years. However, Yarbrough is no longer retired since he was elected to the Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals in 2010. At age 65, he will not be able to run again unless Issue 1 passes.

O’Connor noted in a statement that no other elected office has an age limit.

“This arbitrary age limit eliminates some of our most experienced judges from serving Ohio and administering justice fairly and impartially,” she said.

The Ohio State Bar Association also supports Issue 1, noting that the current age limit was adopted 40 years ago, and life expectancy has risen since then.

“So what happens if Issue 1 fails?” asked bar association President Carol Seubert Marx in a statement. “Up to 10 percent of Ohio’s judges could be forced to retire in the next six years, resulting in the loss of tremendous judicial experience in Ohio’s courtrooms.”

Supreme Court affected

Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association Executive Director John Murphy said there was no reason to change the age limit, and that judges who want to serve can do so after retirement through special appointments.

“That’s fine,” Murphy said. “Take advantage of the experience of those folks.”

There are more checks and balances under the current system, he said, because the Supreme Court can stop appointing a visiting judge who is unable to perform his duties.

“You can keep an eye on him,” Murphy said. “It’s a temporary assignment. It’s harder to get rid of them if they’re serving an elected term.”

Marx said that the state’s judicial and attorney discipline processes provide a framework for dealing with judges with physical or mental issues that impact their performance.

But Murphy said the Supreme Court is reluctant to intervene with the terms of elected officials.

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