Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian talks with Common Pleas Court Judge Leah Dinkelacker

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Brian talks with Common Pleas Court Judge Leah Dinkelacker · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's a big, beautiful, big tent party. Pitch your tent.
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  Speaker 2: Tent.
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  Speaker 1: A big tent. And keep it here for the latest. 55KRC,
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  Speaker 1: The Talk Station. 805, you're at 55KRC, The Talk Station.
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  Speaker 1: Very happy Wednesday to you. And a very happy welcome
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  Speaker 1: back to the 55KRC Morning Show. Fast approaching next Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: It is Election Day next Tuesday, and I've been focusing
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  Speaker 1: quite a bit on the judicial races here in Hamilton County.
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  Speaker 1: Democrats basically hold every single office in the county with
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  Speaker 1: the exception of a handful of judicial benches and, of course, council,
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  Speaker 1: mayor's office, county commissioners. And you get what you vote for.
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  Speaker 1: And clearly the Democrats are in this woke ideology on
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  Speaker 1: the bench. And they don't believe in holding criminals accountable
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  Speaker 1: for the crimes they commit and someone who has a
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  Speaker 1: better view of life. That's Judge Leah Denkalaka, who we
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  Speaker 1: need to keep on the bench. Welcome back, Judge Denkalaka.
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  Speaker 1: Dinka Locker, it's always a pleasure to talk with you
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  Speaker 1: and have you on the 55 KRC Morning Show. How's
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  Speaker 1: it going out there on the trail?
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  Speaker 2: Good. It's going, Brian. As you said, well, first of all,
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  Speaker 2: thank you very much for having me back on the show.
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  Speaker 2: As you said, we're less than a week away. I
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  Speaker 2: am tired, but I have to admit that, but I've
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  Speaker 2: been everywhere. I've been working my butt off. I've been
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  Speaker 2: getting my name out there, meeting wonderful people in this county,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm doing this all because I have three little
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  Speaker 2: kids that I'm raising in this community, and I care
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  Speaker 2: about their safety, as well as the safety of our
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  Speaker 2: entire community. So I'm doing this all for the right reason,
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  Speaker 2: because I truly care about our community. But it's going well.
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  Speaker 2: I'm almost there, and I am going to do this
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  Speaker 2: next week. But thank you very much for having me back.
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  Speaker 1: I'm happy to have you back on, and I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: you anticipated my first question, which In this very difficult
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  Speaker 1: political climate we find ourselves in and the very difficult
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  Speaker 1: position it is being a judge on the bench and
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  Speaker 1: having to be, well, oftentimes, or at least if you
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  Speaker 1: have the appropriate understanding of most notably the criminal justice system,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to have to be harsh treatment for certain
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  Speaker 1: people because they have exhibited a tendency to break laws repeatedly.
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  Speaker 1: That's what you have to do. But that brings about
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  Speaker 1: attacks and personal attacks, maybe doxing kind of things. There's
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  Speaker 1: a weight of responsibility that goes with being a judge
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  Speaker 1: that I don't think your salary compensates you for. But
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  Speaker 1: there's got to be a reason behind it. You will
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  Speaker 1: suffer that type of abuse and that type of criticism
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  Speaker 1: and the public nature of the job for the purpose
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  Speaker 1: of the residents of Hamilton County to keep us all safe.
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  Speaker 1: You've got children you're invested in. You want them to
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  Speaker 1: have a safe community.
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  Speaker 2: So do I.
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  Speaker 1: And I think so does every rational thinking person.
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  Speaker 2: I agree. I mean, we live here. I'm a lifelong resident.
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  Speaker 2: I was born and raised on the West Side. Now
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  Speaker 2: I'm raising my family here. I want everyone in this
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  Speaker 2: county to be able to raise their family in a
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  Speaker 2: safe community. And that's why I do what I do.
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  Speaker 2: And I have... you know, the experience to do the
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  Speaker 2: right thing. You know, I was a prosecutor for almost
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  Speaker 2: 13 years before getting appointed to the bench. I was
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  Speaker 2: in the juvenile municipal felony divisions. I worked my way
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  Speaker 2: up through the office and ended as an assistant chief
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  Speaker 2: of the juvenile division before I got appointed judge. I
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  Speaker 2: tried cases in the common police court that I'm now
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  Speaker 2: a judge in, you know, including murder, rape, felonious assault, robbery.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I argued bond missions as a prosecutor. And now,
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  Speaker 2: as a judge, in my year and a half, I've
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  Speaker 2: presided over 10 different jury trials, eight criminal, including two
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  Speaker 2: murder trials, felonious assault of a police officer, and two
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  Speaker 2: civil matters. One was a medical malpractice, multimillion-dollar verdict. I'm
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  Speaker 2: saying this because I have the required and qualified experience.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm here to work. I'm here to give everyone
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  Speaker 2: their day in court. I listen to everybody. I want
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  Speaker 2: input from all sides. And my opponent, from what I
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  Speaker 2: can tell, the research that my campaign was able to do,
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  Speaker 2: has not handled one case in the Hamilton County Court
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  Speaker 2: of Common Pleas General Division in at least the 10 years.
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  Speaker 2: So do you want someone like her determining the sentence
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  Speaker 2: or in the bond, or do you want someone like
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  Speaker 2: me who has that experience to determine a sentence and
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  Speaker 2: a bond and work to keep our community safe? So
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  Speaker 2: that's what I just hope, you know, all the listeners
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  Speaker 2: out there are considering when they go to vote next Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and, you know, I'm looking at your opponent's website.
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  Speaker 1: She says she worked closely. With legal aid and the
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  Speaker 1: public defender's office, apparently she has some experience representing children
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  Speaker 1: who are victims of abuse and neglect. But beyond that,
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  Speaker 1: she's a lawyer and she's a mediator and a concrete
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  Speaker 1: construction business owner. I don't know how that qualifies you
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  Speaker 1: compared to your resume, which is obviously quite extensive.
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  Speaker 2: Right. I think I'm the more qualified candidate, and my
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  Speaker 2: experience shows that, and my work on the bench shows
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  Speaker 2: it as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, are the things that you're aware of
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  Speaker 1: that need to be addressed by way of how the
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  Speaker 1: process in the court system works in Hamilton County? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we've been focusing a lot on the morning show on
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  Speaker 1: the juvenile court system. Judge Bloom apparently is just, I
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  Speaker 1: don't even know how to interpret her actions, but she
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  Speaker 1: apparently has no interest whatsoever in getting the juveniles the
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  Speaker 1: help they need. That help is brought about by dealing
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  Speaker 1: with them a little bit more harshly on crimes. But
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  Speaker 1: she doesn't, and it's the revolving door of justice in
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  Speaker 1: the juvenile system. Is there anything analogous to that? Because
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  Speaker 1: in the criticism of Judge Bloom, it also carries over
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  Speaker 1: into an area where you work, which is the prosecutor's office.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm getting the sneaking impression that the current Hamilton
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  Speaker 1: County prosecutor shares this sort of woke ideology when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to prosecuting crime. What do you sense? Are you
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  Speaker 1: aware of anything like that? Do you see things that
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  Speaker 1: need to be changed? Leah Deke-Locker.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. Well, as I always say, I have to
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  Speaker 2: be careful. I know. Yeah. As far as... the one
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  Speaker 2: thing I'll say is when I was a, obviously I
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  Speaker 2: just said I was a prosecutor for almost 13 years.
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  Speaker 2: I started my career in the juvenile division. So I
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  Speaker 2: was a brand new attorney. And then I ended my
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  Speaker 2: career as an assistant chief of the juvenile division and
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  Speaker 2: all just based on my personal experience, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: amount of violent crime and juveniles increased tremendously just in the,
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  Speaker 2: you know, those 13 years from when I started and
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  Speaker 2: when I ended, um, you know, I, I, um, the,
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  Speaker 2: What I will say is, you know, there has to
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  Speaker 2: be consequences for actions. I think that's common sense. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I learned that as a little kid in school. I
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  Speaker 2: learned that from my parents. And it's no different, you know,
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  Speaker 2: under the law. We don't want a lawless society. We
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  Speaker 2: want to live in a, like, I just think it's
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  Speaker 2: common sense, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
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  Speaker 2: And under the law as well, you know, The purpose
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  Speaker 2: of felony sentencing and why, you know, the kind of
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  Speaker 2: punishment you're supposed to or sentence you're supposed to come
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  Speaker 2: up with has to protect the public or be one
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  Speaker 2: that reflects protecting the public, punishing the offender and promoting
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  Speaker 2: effective rehabilitation. So it's right there in the law as well.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously, every case is different. I'm going to consider
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  Speaker 2: every case individually. You know, what is the victim looking
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  Speaker 2: for in this case? What's the defendant's background, defendant's history?
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  Speaker 2: Is he working? You know, is he in school? He
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  Speaker 2: or she, sorry. And, you know, what was the nature
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  Speaker 2: of the offense? You know, things like that. So I
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  Speaker 2: took a note to follow along. I take it very seriously.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, you do. And you've demonstrated that on the bench,
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  Speaker 1: Judge Leah Denkelocher. And, you know, the juveniles that you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: and I think everyone can sort of agree, at least
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  Speaker 1: from what we read in the papers and the information
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  Speaker 1: that I've been given, you've been given this explosion, this increase,
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  Speaker 1: I will call it, in juvenile crime. The juveniles in
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  Speaker 1: juvenile court who are committing crimes do quite often end
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  Speaker 1: up in Hamilton County Common Police Court with criminal charges
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  Speaker 1: against them as adults, do they not?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it is very common to have 18, 19,
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  Speaker 2: 20-year-olds on my docket, yes. Yeah, well.
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  Speaker 1: That's why they need to be brought into this justice
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  Speaker 1: system and dealt with accordingly. You know, it needs to
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  Speaker 1: serve as a message. That's part of the criminal justice
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  Speaker 1: system is sending a message out to the other would-be criminals.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to be dealt with harshly if you commit crimes,
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  Speaker 1: so don't do it. That's why there are laws on
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  Speaker 1: the books, for God's sake.
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  Speaker 2: Right. No, I totally agree, Brian.
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  Speaker 1: Keep JudgeDinkalocker.com's website. You can still donate. I guess you
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  Speaker 1: still need campaign contributions, Judge Dinkalocker. We are running short
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  Speaker 1: on time, aren't we?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we are a week away. I mean, I have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of things out there. People have been so
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  Speaker 2: great to me, and I am forever thankful for everyone's support.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm just asking, like I said, less than one week,
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  Speaker 2: please keep spreading the word. These judicial races are important.
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  Speaker 2: Vote the entire ballot. I am the last judge on
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  Speaker 2: the ballot. So please look for me out there. And
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  Speaker 2: I just, Brian, thank you so much for your support.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you to all the listeners out there. I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: do this without you. And I am looking forward to
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity to continue to serve each and every one
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  Speaker 2: of you from the bench. And I hope I get
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  Speaker 2: to do it for a long time. Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate it. Judge Dinkalocker, demonstrably on the bench, you've shown
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  Speaker 1: you are a qualified candidate and you are qualified to
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  Speaker 1: stay on the bench more so than your opponent. And
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  Speaker 1: we need to have consistent justice in Hamilton County before
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  Speaker 1: we have to bring the flag out. Judge Dinkalocker, have
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  Speaker 1: a great race. I wish you all the best and
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  Speaker 1: prayers for you and your family. I know how tough
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  Speaker 1: this has got to be, which is why I would
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  Speaker 1: never want to run for office. Jeez Louise.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's, but my family has been the best and
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  Speaker 2: it's why I'm able to do it. And like I said,
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  Speaker 2: the three little kids of mine, my eight, six, and three-year-old,
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  Speaker 2: they motivate me to do this every day. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to keep it up because it's all about them
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  Speaker 2: and the rest of our community. So I've dedicated my
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  Speaker 2: entire career to public service. And like I said, I
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  Speaker 2: hope I get to continue to do it.
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  Speaker 1: And I hope you do, too. Judge Light, Dan Kalocker,
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  Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure having you on. All the best
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  Speaker 1: of luck as we fast approach Tuesday. Folks, make sure
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  Speaker 1: you have your judicial selections before you go into the polls.
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  Speaker 1: There's no R & D. I would strongly encourage you
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  Speaker 1: to check out the pink slip from the Republican Party.
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  Speaker 1: They've made some excellent, excellent choices. And, of course, they
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  Speaker 1: do endorse Judge Leah Denkelacher on top of, yes, Judge
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  Speaker 1: Luecken for the juvenile bench. Please plan ahead. Please, please.