Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers was appointed to the office in 2023, after long-time Prosecutor Joe Deters joined the Ohio Supreme Court. Now the incumbent Republican is asking voters to choose her to continue to lead the office as she faces a high-profile Democratic challenger, former Ohio Rep. Connie Pillich.
Candidate name: Melissa Powers
Education: 1979 graduate of McAuley High School, the University of Cincinnati in 1984, and The University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1991.
Party affiliation: Republican
Experience:
- Assistant Hamilton County prosecutor (1991-1997)
- Private practice in criminal defense and civil litigation (1998-2006)
- Hamilton County Municipal Court judge (2006-2016)
- Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge (2017-2023)
- Appointed Hamilton County prosecutor in 2023 to an unexpired term.
LISTEN: Candidates Melissa Powers and Connie Pillich speak about prosecutor's race
Melissa Powers took over the prosecutor’s office 20 months ago after the long-time incumbent, Joe Deters, was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Powers can put a specific number on her experience — the number 150,000.
That is the approximate number of court cases she says she has been involved in since her career began 33 years ago.
“I’ve seen the criminal justice system from many points of view,” Powers told WVXU. “I’ve seen it from all sides.”
Her resume attests to that statement. She started out as an assistant county prosecutor, spent a number of years as a criminal defense attorney, served 10 years as a municipal court judge and an additional six years as a juvenile court judge.
Early in her career, as an assistant county prosecutor, she made a name for herself in legal circles when she gained a confession from Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist serial killer. The confession officially solved the 1980 murder of two boys in Cincinnati.
When she speaks about the 20 months she has spent as the county prosecutor, she points to two things as the parts of the job she is most proud of — a renewed focus on victims' rights and an ambitious public campaign to educate seniors on the many scams that target them.
“Some people focus on defendants’ rights, but the victims of crime are often the unheard people,’’ Powers said. “I’ve seen the effects being the victim of a crime, especially violent crimes, can have on people and my office is committed to helping them through every step of the process.”
Powers has started an “Elder Justice Unit” to raise awareness among senior citizens of the many scams, financial and otherwise, that bad actors perpetrate on them every day.
“We provide education for seniors on how to not be taken in,” Powers said. “We went out people to speak to senior groups all over the community — in churches, in senior centers, in retirement communities, wherever seniors gather — to educate them on what to look for, how not to be sucked in by frauds.”
The prosecutor’s office has set up a phone line — 513-946-SCAM (7226) — where senior citizens or their families can report attempts to con them.
“The focus is often on protecting children, and we take that seriously,” Powers said. “But we can’t forget the seniors. Too often they end up being victims.”
