Hearing on O'Reilly ad set

From Reporter Sharon Coolidge:

A three-member panel of the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline found probable cause Monday in a disciplinary complaint against attorney Jim O'Reilly, who is running for the 1st District Court of Appeals.

The full hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Read the board's probable cause findings from Monday here.

The complaint, filed by Cincinnati attorney Steve Goodin on behalf of O'Reilly's opponent, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker, alleges misconduct by O'Reilly. The complaint says O'Reilly's television advertisement is false.

The complaint now goes before another three-member panel of the board for an evidentiary hearing. If misconduct is found, the Ohio Supreme Court could impose sanctions ranging from requiring O'Reilly to pull the ad, to fines or even sanctions on O'Reilly's law license.

The finding comes after a member of the Ohio Elections Commission called O'Reilly's attack ad misleading. But the four-member commission found no probable cause that the ads are false.

O'Reilly's ad says Dinkelacker jailed an alleged rape victim, made an error that allowed Larry Flynt to go free and continue to sell pornography in Hamilton County and prosecuted the only death penalty case commuted by Gov. Bob Taft.

Goodin argued that all three claims are false and misleading, a violation of judicial canons that forbid a judicial candidate from running a television ad that is false, or if true, that would be deceiving or misleading.