By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Using boxes of court documents and a video screen, a Butler County judge Tuesday disputed Commissioner Mike Fox's allegations that the Domestic Relations and Juvenile courts' policies and procedures violate people's rights.

Domestic Relations Judge Sharon Kennedy said there's no truth to the allegations that the court excludes principal parties from court proceedings, permits costly delays, fails to enforce court orders, denies access to transcripts and records, and blocks appeals.

At a press conference in Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater's courtroom, Kennedy said most of the changes in the court's procedures and policies Fox wants have been in place for years. "What he wants already happens in this court," she said.

Some of his recommendations can't be made because they're against state law, Kennedy said.

"If he doesn't like the laws, he should change them through the state legislature and the Ohio Supreme Court," she said.

Fox said Domestic Relations and Juvenile courts have not been practicing the procedures and policies he has suggested. He said he has heard from "hundreds of people" whose experiences with the courts contradict what Kennedy says.

In May, Fox issued a scathing report about the courts, titled: "A Culture of Secrecy, Fear and Judicial Abuse."

He accused the judges and magistrates of tolerating false statements in court and other alleged misconduct and corruption.

At a May press conference, Kennedy said Fox's criminal allegations against the courts were completely false. She has asked the Ohio Attorney General's Office and the FBI to investigate the court cases in which Fox believes criminal wrongdoing occurred.

She has requested the Ohio Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel to examine other cases in which Fox says ethical violations occurred. Kennedy said she believes any law enforcement agency's investigation will vindicate the courts. "I will not relent in this pursuit. The integrity of the justice system is bigger than any person, it's bigger than anyone's career and it's certainly bigger than politics."

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com