“Giving my children my undivided attention for a while,” he said.
Nastoff, 47, said he will be moving out of state with his wife, Kristen, and three daughters, ages 19, 17 and 19 months, so that his wife can pursue a career opportunity and he can become “Mr. Mom.”
He laughed and admitted the latter may be his biggest challenge yet.
“Both my wife and I have demanding professional careers,” Nastoff said earlier this year when making his resignation announcement. “My position as a Butler County Judge has been a priority, but she has a very successful career as well. And in all of that, we balance the most important thing — raising a family. So, when my wife was offered a very attractive and deserved promotion out of state, it became a family decision.”
Good-byes and memories were never ending on Thursday as attorneys and defendants appeared before the judge for the last time.
“It was emotional. Every attorney, every case, it was the last time,” he said.
Nastoff is a 1988 graduate of Youngstown State University and only came to Butler County while attending University of Cincinnati College of Law. As a young law student, he began working for county Prosecutor John F. Holcomb and would later become an assistant prosecuting attorney.
“I can say I have actually met an icon,” Nastoff said of Holcomb, who served as prosecutor for 27 years.
Many influenced Nastoff, including Holcomb, defense attorney Jack Garretson, whom he worked with in private practice, and retired 12th District Court of Appeals Judge H.J. Bressler. Nastoff was appointed to fill Bressler’s seat as common pleas judge in 2005 when he was elected to the appellate court.
“I have had a charmed life,” Nastoff said, adding working for Holcomb was like coaching football with Woody Hayes. People complained about Holcomb, he said, but those who worked for him loved him and knew how brilliant he was.
“It changed the kind of attorney you were,” he said.
But it was while clerking in the prosecutor’s office that a case tested whether he ever wanted to practice law.
“My most memorable case is not one as judge. It was the Loza case … the one that gave me pause,” Nastoff said.
Jose Trinidad Loza is now on death row after being convicted of the 1991 Middletown murder of his girlfriend’s mother, his girlfriend’s brother and his girlfriend’s sisters, one of which was pregnant when she died. All were shot in the head.
“I was watching the video of the crime scene with John and Noah Powers, who was an assistant then. I can remember being stunned by the carnage … one of the victims was still alive when police got there and pregnant. I went home that night trying to figure out if I wanted to be in this line of work. I ended up realizing it was important work.”
Nastoff said he went back to work volunteering to do anything he could to help prepare the case for trial, and his legal career was in full swing.
In his career as common pleas judge, Nastoff presided over more than 100 jury trials and five capital murder cases.
“I have always worked hard to create an overall experience in my courtroom that looked and smelled and tasted like justice,” Nastoff said.
In addition to serving as a judge, assistant prosecutor and defense attorney, Nastoff served nearly four years of active duty in the United State Army J.A.G. Corps where he was a military prosecutor.
Nastoff said he is not sure if law is in his future.
“I think I will go back to work. But I am going to take a year or two to reflect on where I have been and where I would like to go. It might be the law, it might be the teaching profession or it might be with an issue-oriented nonprofit. It is exiting to think about,” he said
Nastoff’s term does not end until 2014. The Butler County Republican Party met earlier this month and voted to send the names of attorney Tim Evans and Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McElfresh to the governor for appointment to the office.
Retired Judges Bressler and Matthew Crehan will hear Nastoff’s cases until a replacement is appointed.
Does Nastoff have advice for the next person to pick up the gavel?
“We are all people,” he said. “Don’t confuse having an important job with being an important person.”
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