Connie Pillich’s first day as Hamilton County’s chief prosecutor was a snow day. The courthouse was closed on Monday due to a winter storm, so she swore in her assistant prosecutors on Tuesday.
It was a unique way to begin her historic tenure.
She is the first elected female to hold the high-profile position, and the first Democrat to break the Republican hold on the office in nearly a century.
Pillich lacked the prosecutorial experience and large campaign coffers of her opponent, Republican incumbent Melissa Powers, but she won with 51% of the vote.
“I want to make sure that people know that I mean business,” Pillich stated in a Jan. 3 interview. “We’re going to make some big changes this year.”
Pillich and other newly elected county officials were sworn in by Hamilton County Domestic Relations Judge Anne Flottman on December 20, 2024, prior to their official first day.
One of Pillich’s first challenges is to hire more prosecutors.
“The number of vacancies changes daily,” Pillich said.
Since her election, 23 prosecutors have either resigned or announced their retirement.
She has already hired seven new prosecutors and expects to be fully staffed shortly. The number of prosecutors in the office ranges from 110 to 120.
The majority of those vacancies are in the civil and appellate divisions, where prosecutors are not required to appear in court every day.
Pillich stated that the office has enough criminal prosecutors to handle cases in court in the meantime.
“We’re trying to triage right now, if you will, because people are leaving and I’m coming in brand new,” she informed us. “But I’m confident that we’ll be fully staffed and we’ll be able to do our job for everybody who’s depending on us.”
When she was elected, she asked each member of the staff to apply with their resumes.
Some did not reapply, including Hamilton County Republican Party Chair Russell Mock and party vice-chair Triffon Callos. She also requested the resignation of two prosecutors, Matthew Broo and David Wood.
“I believe we have received 175 resumes. The majority are current employees who plan to stay. Pillich stated on Jan. 3 that “eight people have taken jobs elsewhere after submitting their resumes before I had a chance to speak with them… so I think there’s going to be a lot of ebb and flow for the first month or so.”
“We hope that the courts will work with us to ease us through the transition so that we can make sure everything is taken care of,” she said, assuring that there will be enough prosecutors in court to handle criminal cases in the meantime.
Longtime first assistant prosecutor and felony chief Mark Piepmeier intends to retire in late April, but has been working closely with Pillich to ensure adequate staffing: “he’s been incredibly supportive and cooperative with the transition,” she said.
Pillich has named Heidi Rosales, a former assistant city prosecutor in Cincinnati, as Piepmeier’s replacement.
Since the election, she claims to have met with numerous city and county leaders, law enforcement, community groups, members of the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, Western & Southern Financial Group President and CEO John Barrett, and others.
Pillich has never worked as a criminal prosecutor, but he is a US Air Force veteran and a former Ohio state legislator who studied law.
She established a private practice, filed civil cases, and worked as a public defender for some criminal felony cases.
She stated that her military background as an officer, as well as her master’s degree in business administration, will assist her in organizing and managing the prosecutor’s office.
A lot of people are curious about me and my goals, but few know my background. So they’re very curious, and I’m delighted to meet with anyone,” she explained. “There is a lot of concern about crime on the street, particularly Government Square.”
She said many people are impressed with the community and business groups’ efforts to reduce youth crime downtown, which have been somewhat successful.
“One of my goals is to collaborate across the community to ensure that programs like that remain in place, and let’s see if they work long-term,” she said, using data to track progress.
She also wants to be responsive and involved with the community.
“How can I make myself available and accessible to entities such as the Cincinnati Business Committee, the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, sports teams, and other businesses?”
She asked. “I’m not going to limit my vision to downtown … I’m not going to just focus on the courthouse. I want to be part of the solution across the community.”
She also met with police chiefs from Evendale, Delhi, and Sycamore Township, who are concerned about cross-department cooperation, supporting mayor’s courts, and how long officers have to sit in court awaiting their cases, which impacts overtime costs and staffing issues.
She wants to regularly attend neighborhood council and township trustee meetings across the county, as well as groups such as the Rotary Club.
“We’re going to make some big changes this year,” she said. “I want to make sure that people know that I mean business.”
She plans to create a formal training program for prosecutors on trial practice, choosing a jury, rules of evidence, and ethics.
“We’re also going to be embracing new technology so that our office can talk to the sheriff, can talk to the Cincinnati police department, and can talk to the court clerk.
And this is going to be a way to upgrade for the first time our case management system in over 30 years,” she said. “We’re going to use software to track evidence so no one can claim that we didn’t turn it over, and we can find out where it is.”
This new technology will allow police to upload evidence directly from their computers, as well as load DNA evidence or test results as they become available.
The system will notify prosecutors and attorneys when the evidence is delivered, so no one can claim they did not receive it.
“Because convicting the wrong person is embarrassing for the office, and convicting the right person but having it overturned on appeal on a technicality does not keep us safe. “Neither way keeps us safe,” she explained.
In terms of juvenile court, she wants to ensure that prosecutors receive additional training on youth development and the unique aspects of those proceedings.
“The second thing I want to do is reassure everyone – I want to keep people safe,” she told the crowd. “If that means keeping a violent offender off the streets, I’ll do everything in my power to accomplish that.
If that means bringing a juvenile to adult court, that will happen on occasion. I cannot guarantee that it will not.
Pillich said she met with Cincinnati’s chief data officer and confirmed that the increase in juvenile crime since 2021 is real.
“I want to be part of the solution that finds ways to reduce the future occurrence of juvenile crime,” she informed me.
Pillich also stated that she wants to professionalize the prosecutor’s office, implement internal audits following major cases, and be open, available, and responsive to the media.
