Over the course of my career as Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, I’ve had the opportunity to handle some very high-profile cases that had lasting effects on our area - beyond just the lives of those involved. We will be releasing a new video covering a different case each week, and you can check out my reactions to those cases and the stories captured by watching the videos below.
Joseph Paul Franklin was a white supremacist and serial killer who was engaged in a murder spree throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, including the murder of two young boys in Cincinnati in 1980. My office played a key role in obtaining a confession of an additional murder committed by Franklin. This man was pure evil and was sentenced to death - ultimately dying from lethal injection in 2013.
This case involved a truly dangerous killer who was willing to go to any lengths to cover up the brutal murder he committed, from establishing phony alibis to killing potential witnesses who found out about his crime.
Experience matters in this line of work, and I am proud of my record putting people like Jonathan Hirsch behind bars.
This case has stayed with me to this day. James Mills decided to rob a St. Bernard bank in broad daylight, and instead of just taking the money and leaving, he made the cold blooded choice to shoot and kill a completely innocent bank teller. Then, in a parking lot filled with bystanders outside the bank, Mills and his accomplice got into a gunfight with St. Bernard Police in order to escape. It could have been my family or yours inside the bank that day, and it is why it is so important to ensure people like James Mills can never be allowed out in our community. I’m proud we were able to achieve justice for Marsha Burger and her family in this case.
In this video, we take a look back at a major case that prompted Joe Deters to create Hamilton County's first Victim Advocate Program in 1992.
This case was every parent's worst nightmare: A young child kidnapped out of their bed from their own home. Wogenstahl thought he was going to get away with this murder, but all it took was one missed spot of blood for his entire plan to unravel. Together with other bits of circumstantial evidence, including a bleached jacket and shoes with evidence from a crime scene still on them, we were able to put this killer on death row where he belongs.
Gary Hughbanks was a monster who killed two innocent people simply because he wanted to ensure there were no witnesses to his crimes. It took over ten years and a lot of work to bring him to justice, but our community is safer with him on death row. These cases matter. Delivering justice and closure to the families of victims matters. It is why I do what I do every day.