Jon Ickes

Introduction

Jon Ickes was a Sandusky County, Ohio Common Pleas Court judge until 19 August 2026, when the Supreme Court of Ohio suspended him for two years and immediately removed him from judicial office without pay for the duration — a sanction more severe than the discipline board had recommended, imposed for judicial-conduct violations including presiding over two cases in which he had a “glaring conflict of interest,” harassing a pregnant employee, using a racial slur within earshot of a criminal defendant, and repeatedly mocking a child-rape case with a lewd nickname from the bench. The Court said “an actual suspension is necessary to protect the public and demonstrate that we will not tolerate the childish, inappropriate, and vulgar behavior Ickes exhibited in chambers and in the courtroom.”

Background Information

Ickes was appointed to the court’s general and domestic relations division in 2020 and elected to a full six-year term beginning January 2021. In January 2025, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint with the Board of Professional Conduct alleging 17 violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The allegations centered on two criminal cases in which his stepson — a law enforcement officer — was the arresting officer and state’s witness, and on a workplace environment that multiple court employees described as hostile: the board found he harassed a pregnant employee, fostered an unprofessional workplace, used a racial slur within earshot of a criminal defendant, and used a lewd and vulgar nickname for a child rape case.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are findings of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct and the Supreme Court of Ohio in a judicial-discipline proceeding. They were never criminally charged and never adjudicated in a criminal court; the findings were made by clear judicial-disciplinary process, and the Court’s opinion is the operative public record.

In the first case involving his stepson, Curtis Elkins was arrested by Fremont Police Department Officer Christian Ortolani, Ickes’s stepson, in a 2022 “drive-by” case and in an unrelated assault case; Ickes presided over the pretrial hearings in both and over the assault case’s trial. In violation of judicial rules, he never disclosed his relationship to Ortolani on the record nor sought a waiver of disqualification from the parties. Ortolani testified at the assault trial; Elkins was convicted and Ickes sentenced him to six to nine years — but the Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, finding an “unconstitutional potential for bias” because there was no evidence Elkins or his attorney knew Ortolani was the judge’s stepson. In the second case, Leroy Stratton was indicted for rape in 2023 after he livestreamed himself performing an oral sex act on an 18-month-old child. Over the eight months the case sat on Ickes’s docket, the judge regularly referred to it using a lewd and vulgar term that one staff member called “disgusting” and another disturbing. Stratton asked Ickes to recuse because Ortolani was the arresting officer and the judge had never disclosed the relationship; Ickes refused, saying Ortolani’s role did not warrant recusal. During the February 2024 trial, Ickes participated in a text conversation from the bench with two staff members and the court administrator; some of the texts mocked a potential juror, and during the trial he texted videos and comments to staff that made light of the matter. Stratton was convicted and sentenced to life without parole — then the Sixth District reversed that conviction too and remanded the case for further proceedings. The board found Ickes failed to promote public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and did not require those under his direction to act consistently with his obligations.

The Board of Professional Conduct found Ickes committed 10 of the 17 charged violations. It recommended a one-year suspension, fully stayed on condition of no further misconduct — effectively a warning. The Supreme Court of Ohio determined a more severe sanction was necessary. Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said Ickes’s refusal to disqualify himself when his impartiality might reasonably have been questioned “caused incalculable harm to the public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary,” and that his failure to disclose the relationship to Ortolani “wasted prosecutorial, public-defender, and judicial resources.” The Court noted that judges are held to a higher standard than other attorneys and that Ickes had not resigned despite the findings, making a fully stayed suspension impossible to justify.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The Supreme Court’s announcement — a sitting elected trial judge suspended and removed from the bench over conduct including bench-texting during a baby-rape trial — drew immediate attention as one of Ohio’s sharper judicial-discipline outcomes of 2026. Four justices joined the chief justice’s opinion, with Fourth District Court of Appeals Judge Michael D. Hess sitting in for Justice Jennifer Brunner. The Court also required Ickes to pay the cost of the disciplinary proceedings — an added financial penalty on top of two years without judicial pay. The board’s findings about the treatment of a pregnant employee and the racial slur entered the public record through the disciplinary process.

Current Status

Ickes is suspended from judicial office for two years and removed from the bench without pay for that period, effective immediately from 19 August 2026, and must pay the costs of the disciplinary case. Because his elected term runs to the beginning of 2027, the suspension effectively terminates his judicial service; the Court’s order does not restore him to any active docket. He has not resigned, and no criminal charges against Ickes arising from the underlying cases are reported. The fallout from his recusal failures lands on the defendants: Elkins’s assault conviction was reversed for the bias risk, and Stratton’s life-without-parole sentence was reversed and remanded — both cases must now be retried years after the events.

Impact on Their Career/Life

An elected six-year judgeship ended in an unpaid, cost-laden suspension after the state’s highest court rejected its own discipline board’s recommendation as too lenient — the second layer of accountability doing its job. The case’s details traveled well beyond Ohio: a judge texting jokes during a trial about the rape of an 18-month-old, and regularly referring to that case by a vulgar nickname for months, is the kind of record that ends not only a judicial career but any related legal or public role. For Sandusky County, the immediate consequence was a vacant docket and a public demonstration that the conflict-of-interest rules around a justice’s own family are enforced at the top.

Sources

• Supreme Court of Ohio / Court News Ohio, “Sandusky County Judge Removed from Office for Multiple Judicial Conduct Violations,” 19 August 2026 — source