Ohio Voter Guide: State Supreme Court (seat 2)

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly, a Cleveland Democrat, is running for a second six-year term on the Ohio Supreme court against Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan, a Republican.

Michael Donnelly (D)

Donnelly advocates for fairness, transparency and data-driven decision making in the court system. He wants Ohio to create a criminal sentencing database to reveal biases in how defendants are treated, he wants the law change to mandate judges to act more quickly on inmates' claims of actual innocence and he has a personal rule against allowing plea deals that aren't based on the facts of a case.

Donnelly said wrote nearly 30 "jurisdictional dissents," putting on the record why he thinks that the court should've taken up cases that it opted not to consider. "People ask me why do I do this. And I say it goes back to the most important quality I believe the judiciary can display and that's transparency."

Donnelly takes issue when Republicans accuse him of bending the law to his own personal beliefs and "legislating from the bench."

"I am an independent justice," said Donnelly, a Democrat from Cleveland. He said he applies the law and constitution, as written, even when it results in a lousy outcome.

Donnelly received his bachelor's degree from John Carroll University and his legal degree from Cleveland State University's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

He served two years as an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor and seven years in private practice before being elected to the common pleas court bench in 2004.

In 2018, Donnelly won a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court in an election without partisan labels attached to candidates' names.

How Donnelly ruled on cases:

Open Records: In January, the court ruled 4-3 that expense records for state troopers to accompany Gov. Mike DeWine to the 2020 Super Bowl were exempt from disclosure under Ohio's open records law. Four Republicans, including a visit judge sitting in for Justice Patrick DeWine, signed onto the majority opinion. The three Democrats on the court signed onto a dissent written by Donnelly.

And in April, Donnelly dissented in a 5-2 decision that said names and addresses contained in a state database of people who died are not subject to disclosure under the state's open records laws. Justices decided that particular information is protected health info.

Utility Company Fees: In 2019, Donnelly wrote the majority opinion in a 4-3 decision to strike down a fee FirstEnergy put on customer bills to modernize its distribution network. Akron -based FirstEnergy collected about $200 million a year off the fee. Donnelly wrote that power companies weren't required to actually make any investments in exchange for the money.

Wrongful Convictions: Donnelly supported the creation of a conviction integrity task force by the supreme court, saying that prosecutors fight to protect verdicts and convictions even in the face of newly discovered evidence. Prosecutors opted not to participate in the task force. He supports legislation that would require judges to take action more quickly on pending claims of actual innocence.

Redistricting Maps: Donnelly voted multiple times with fellow Democrats Melody Stewart and Jennifer Brunner and then-Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican, to rule proposed constitutional and legislative district maps unconstitutional.

Boneless chicken wings: Donnelly authored the dissent in a recent case that grabbed national headlines. A man seriously injured by a bone embedded in his "boneless" wings sued but wasn't allowed to have his case heard by a jury. The four justices in the majority opinion said the customer should expect to find bones in a boneless wings order because chickens have bones. Donnelly said the majority on the case overstepped "because they wanted to protect businesses from future liability."

Megan Shanahan (R)

Shanahan is proud of how she runs her courtroom. When asked to talk about cases that show what kind of judge she is, Shanahan points to two examples where she kept the wheels of justice turning.

When former University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing was tried for murder of an unarmed Black motorist, Shanahan said she managed the case amid intense media and community attention. It ended in a hung jury and mistrial, but Shanahan said she worked to ensure a fair, expeditious trial. A second trial also ended in a hung jury. The university paid Tensing nearly $350,000 to settle a union grievance he brought.

And when she heard a complex medical malpractice trial against Christ Hospital, Shanahan noted that she kept her docket moving despite the trial lasting seven weeks in 2022. It ended in a hung jury and Shanahan was set to hold a second trial when the parties settled the case.

Shanahan, 51, changed majors in college, diverting from a plan to become a pilot to studying political science at Kent State University and going on to earn a law degree from University of Cincinnati.

She started her career as an assistant prosecutor in Butler County but after five years on the job she knew she wanted to be a judge. She moved to Hamilton County where there are more judgeships and worked for then Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters, who is now a Supreme Court justice.

She lost a municipal court race in 2010 but won her second race in 2011. Then in 2015, Republican Gov. John Kasich appointed her to a vacant seat on the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Shanahan's key cases:

Open Court Records: Shanahan agreed to let Cincinnati police officer Ryan Olthaus proceed with a lawsuit under a pseudonym and approved a restraining order blocking community activists from releasing personal info about him. The Cincinnati Enquirer and UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh sued to have the case unsealed and Olthaus' name on the records. The supreme court, including Donnelly, voted unanimously to overturn that decision, ruling that the officer couldn't pursue a lawsuit anonymously.

Death Penalty: In 2016, a jury found Glenn Bates guilty of murdering his two-year-old daughter and Shanahan sentenced him to death. Evidence showed the toddler had been beaten and starved before she died. The Ohio Supreme Court overturned the case, based on Bates receiving ineffective legal counsel. In 2023, Bates pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Banking Contracts: In a case closely watched by Ohio's banking industry, the supreme court will decide who is right: Shanahan or the First District Court of Appeals. Raymond Schneider personally guaranteed a $77 million loan from Huntington National Bank to his business but when the business defaulted, Schneider argued that he didn't owe anything because he was a "surety" under the contract, not a guarantor. He also argued that he was duped into signing the agreement and the bank knew it. Shanahan's decision backed the bank. The appellate court sided with Schneider. Oral arguments in the case have yet to be scheduled.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Voter Guide: State Supreme Court