Lawmakers start process to remove Hamilton County judge who mocked Charlie Kirk assassination

State lawmakers have started the process to remove a Hamilton County judge who made social media comments that critics say celebrated the assassination of conservative luminary Charlie Kirk.

Municipal Court Judge Ted Berry has faced calls to resign over the comments, which included language such as “Rest in Hatred & Division,” that critics said celebrated Kirk’s death. However, since Berry refused to step down from his post, state Reps. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, said they have filed a House resolution to initiate the Ohio House of Representatives’ process to remove the judge.

“Judge Berry has had every opportunity to step down in recognition of his misconduct and his blatant violations of judicial ethics,” Swearingen, the vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a release. “His refusal to resign leaves the legislature no choice but to pursue the most serious option available to ensure public confidence in the fairness of Ohio’s courts.”

The lawmakers contend that Berry violated the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, which includes sections requiring judges to uphold public confidence in the judiciary, avoid impropriety, and forbid allowing political or personal interests to influence their judicial duties.

“The integrity of our courts is non-negotiable,” Swearingen said. “Cheering for Mr. Kirk’s assassination is incompatible with the power vested in and the principles expounded by judicial office. Since Judge Berry has not done the right thing and stepped down, the Legislature must now remove him.”

While the judge has remained on the bench, he was removed from an advisory post at the Joe Burrow Foundation.

Amid the kerfuffle over his comments, Berry provided a short statement to local reporters that stopped short of a retraction. He told The Enquirer that he does not “condone any type of violence on any human being.”

“I regret if I caused division,” he added. “That was not my intent. And I hope there can be peace.”

In a release, Mathews said the judge’s “actions have fallen far short of that sacred trust, and now the legislature must act to defend the courts.”

“Judge Berry has had more than a month to take the honorable path and resign,” Mathews said in a release. “The people of Ohio deserve a judiciary they can trust to be fair, unbiased, and beyond reproach.”

Berry was hardly alone in making inappropriate comments about Kirk’s death.

In Cleveland, Fire Chief Anthony P. Luke, who became fire chief in 2022, was placed on paid leave after posting a cartoon video “with a machine gun on a pedestal in front of a group of kneeling elephants,” Cleveland 19 reported. One of the elephants depicted said, “Bring out the next sacrifice.”

Elsewhere, Munroe Falls City Council Vice President John Impellizzeri resigned after a social media post that, in part, said, “The world is a better place now that he’s gone.” Fairview Park City Council President Michael Kilbane resigned after posting on social media that Kirk wasn’t among the “good people” who died on Sept. 10.