Judge and former prosecutor dead at age 56

Hutzel, 56, had a previous bout with cancer 11 years ago, South said, “and won that battle,” but she came down with another form of cancer a year ago.

“She was disappointed that she had to go through all that again, but she fought it with grace and rarely missed a day on the bench, to the point that she was on the bench Monday.”

When Hutzel went in for a chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday, however, South said, “Her body had taken all that it could take.”

Hutzel was born and raised one of 13 children on her parents’ dairy farm in Warren County. In 1982, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts and from the University of Dayton Law School in 1991.

In 1993, she joined the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.

“She was very involved in cases involving juveniles,” said Warrenn County Commissioner Tom Ariss, who was Warren County Sheriff when Hutzel joined the prosecutor’s office. “As a prosecutor she was very aggressive, and she brought that same aggressiveness to protect the victims of crimes.”

In 2002, she was the first woman elected to become the county prosecutor, and she made the prosecution of child abusers a priority and was instrumental in the opening of the Child Advocacy Center of Warren County in 2008, South said.

“For the first two years of the agency, it was operated solely through Rachel’s fund-raising efforts,” South said.

Hutzel received national attention as prosecutor in the three murder trials of Ryan Widmer, whose wife Sarah died in a bathtub drowning in 2008. The first jury convicted him of murder, but the verdict was revoked because of juror misconduct. Widmer’s second prosecution ended in a mistrial in 2010. He was found guilty in a third trial in 2011.

When Hutzel joined the 12th District Court of Appeals on Feb. 10, 2011, she became the first woman to serve on the court since it was created in 1983.

Hutzel also chaired the Victim Advocate Committee, served on the Executive and Legislative Committees of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and on the boards of Elizabeth’s New Life Center, the Warren County Foundation, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and is the Chair-Elect of the Coalition for a Drug Free Greater Cincinnati.

Funeral arrangements, to be announced, are being made by Stine Kilburn Funeral Home in Lebanon.