A judge in Ohio is facing calls for his removal or resignation from office, and has been booted from the board of an important charity on which he served, in the wake of horrid comments of his regarding the assassination of Turning Point USA founder and Trump ally Charlie Kirk surfacing, with many taking his comments to show the utterly rotten state of the American judiciary.
For reference, the judge at issue is Hamilton County Judge Ted Berry, who posted horrid things online in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk at the hands of a radical leftist in Utah. Judge Berry was, before the incident, also on the board of The Joe Burrow Foundation, a food security non-profit connected with famed football star Joe Burrow. He has been removed from that board.
Judge Berry was booted from that position and might lose his position as a judge because of his horrific posts, in which he said, “Rest in Hatred and Division,” “How’s he feel about gun violence & gun control in Hell, now?,” and “So, a white guy killed him! Color it KARMA!” As could be expected, conservatives were outraged over those comments.
The Joe Burrough Foundation responded nearly immediately to the horrible incident, posting a picture of a statement on X in which it announced that he had been removed and captioned it by saying, “Statement on behalf of the Joe Burrow Foundation. We remain committed to accountability and respect for all.”
In the statement itself, the foundation said, “The Joe Burrow Foundation was founded on the belief that everyone has the responsibility to do good. We have terminated an advisory board member that made inappropriate remarks in light of recent events and they are no longer associated with the foundation. Their comments do not reflect our values or our mission. We are committed to accountability and respect for all.”
State Rep. Adam Mathews called for Judge Berry to be removed from his much more important judicial role as well, saying, “A judge must be a pillar of fairness and impartiality in our community,” said Rep. Mathews. “To see a sitting judge post comments like ‘Rest in Hatred & Division!’, ask ‘How’s he feel about gun violence & gun control in Hell, now?’, and then celebrate the race of the killer by stating ‘So, a white guy killed him! Color it KARMA!’ is shocking and completely unacceptable. This is not the conduct of a neutral arbiter of the law; it is the behavior of a political activist who has abandoned the core principles of his office.”
Rep. Mathews added that if the judge does not resign voluntarily, he will file a complaint to get the woke judge thrown out, saying, “Should Judge Berry choose not to resign, I am prepared to file a formal grievance with the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel or take other actions towards removal to ensure that the integrity of our judiciary is protected. The people of Ohio deserve a judiciary they can trust to be fair, unbiased, and beyond reproach. Judge Berry’s actions have fallen far short of that sacred trust.”
This poll subscribes you to our premium network of content. Unsubscribe at any time.
Further, the State Rep’s office provided that the judge’s comments were disallowed under Ohio law, providing, “The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct sets forth strict requirements for a judge’s behavior, both on and off the bench. Canon 1 requires that a judge ‘uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety’. Rule 1.2 of this canon specifically mandates that a judge ‘shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary’. Judge Berry’s statements do the opposite, actively eroding the very public confidence he is sworn to uphold.”
His office further added, “Canon 2 further dictates that a judge must perform their duties impartially. Judge Berry’s comments, particularly celebrating the killer’s race by saying ‘Color it KARMA!’, are a flagrant violation of Rule 2.3, which explicitly prohibits a judge from manifesting ‘bias or prejudice…based upon race’. This public display of racial bias, combined with his politically charged statements on gun control, also calls into question his adherence to Rule 2.4, which prohibits a judge from allowing personal or political interests to ‘influence the judge’s judicial conduct or judgment’. He has demonstrated a clear inability to remain impartial. I am unsure how any person could be confident in fairness before his court.”
