Judges Noah Powers II, Charles Pater, Craig Hedric, Michael Oster and Jennifer McElfresh followed suit, thus sending the case to Spaeth, according to a entry filed Monday.
Spaeth said he has not yet made a decision on his recusal. If all general division common pleas judges recuse, the Ohio Supreme Court will likely be asked to appoint a visiting judge.
Hatfield alleges a letter sent by Prosecutor Michael Gmoser to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones on July 6 contained “knowingly bogus and unfounded charges” against him.
In the letter, Gmoser claims Hatfield “has a pattern of over charging for the purpose of gaining overtime from court proceedings because of a heavy child support obligation and has increased court overtime by separating cases so as to be scheduled both in morning and afternoon sessions.”
Gmoser also said in the letter that Hatfield was “deficient in his understanding of the U.S. Constitution concerning permissible search and Ohio Law concerning obstruction of justice.”
The sheriff’s department conducted an internal investigation into the claims and exonerated Hatfield, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the prosecutor’s actions have caused Hatfield to incur a hostile atmosphere in Butler County and the letter containing the allegations remains in his personnel file, preventing him from being able to transfer to other police departments.
Butler County Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said the sheriff’s office had no comment on the lawsuit.
The Journal-News obtained a copy of Hatfield’s personnel file, which notes he was hired by the department in January 2004 and was transferred to the transport division on July 8, 2015. Dwyer did say Hatfield’s transfer was not a demotion and had nothing to do with the letter.
Butler County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Todd Langmeyer oversaw the investigation into the allegations of improper charging and manipulation of overtime.
“ … we have addressed each issue in this investigation and have found nothing to support the criminal allegations and therefore theses criminal allegations are not substantiated,” Langmeyer stated in his report.
Gmoser declined to comment about the letter, which was written after a case of Hatfield’s was presented to a grand jury by the prosecutor and an indictment was not returned.
The case in question is from June 2016.
Robert Lewis, of Oxford Twp., was charged with felony obstructing official business while Hatfield was attempting to serve misdemeanor warrants at Lewis’ residence.
Hatfield testified he did not have a warrant to search the house, but received permission from Lewis’ girlfriend when he peered in a back door that was ajar, according to court transcripts obtained by the Journal-News.
Later during questioning by the defense attorney Hatfield said he went in to the house without a warrant after finding the door ajar, then a female inside have him consent to search, according to the transcript.
“When I knocked on the door, the door that was partially ajar. As I said, I made several announcements for someone to come to the door knowing someone was inside the house. No one responded. Concerned for my welfare, I stepped into the kitchen and announced myself several times, and that’s when she came down,” Hatfield said according to the transcript.
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