The county has hired special counsel to represent Butler County Area I Judge Robert Lyons in one of two law suits filed with the Ohio Supreme Court.

On Thursday, the county commission approved a motion to hire Cincinnati attorney George D. Jonson due to county Prosecutor Michael Gmoser’s conflict of interest.

Lyons has sealed 3,402 criminal cases since 2007, according to court records. A local newspaper has sued the judge in the Ohio Supreme Court asking to unseal all the records the judge may have erroneously sealed.

It is the second lawsuit filed at the high court by the news media. The issue of sealing records surfaced recently after a local newspaper sued Lyons in the Ohio Supreme Court when he sealed the record of the author of a rape flier posted at Miami University’s Oxford campus.

A Miami University student was charged last year after he posted a “How to get away with rape” flier on campus. The case was dismissed and the record sealed on the spot, which is permitted by law.

Gmoser said he will defend Lyons in the first lawsuit concerning the sealed records on the dismissed case, but he instructed his assistant prosecutor in that court to object to every sealing request for defendants who have been found guilty, thus he can not defend Lyons in the second suit.

Under those circumstances, because there is a disagreement between me and the judge in the second matter, I can not remain on the case,” Gmoser said.

No cost was provided for Jonson’s services by county officials.

Lyons told the JournalNews last week that he can’t talk about the Supreme Court case, but said there are good reasons for sealing records and new legislation backs him up.

“Somebody who wants a job promotion or is applying for a job, whether they are in college or not, has a very valid reason for having their record sealed,” he said. “And the law just changed in September, and that was part of the push in Ohio by the legislature. It was to make record sealing more available because of the job market, to let more people be able to work.”

The deposition in the high court case reveals that Lyons has been erroneously sealing cases immediately where minor misdemeanors convictions are involved.

“That is my practice and was being done before I got there. It was the prior judge’s practice,” Lyons said in the deposition. “And because I believe there is a differentiation between misdemeanor and minor misdemeanor. Minor misdemeanor does not carry possibility of jail or probation.”

Staff Writer Denise Callahan contributed to this report