State Disciplinary Hearing Against Geauga County Probate Judge Tim Grendell Again Delayed

Tim Grendell, 70, in an undated photo. Credit: Geauga County

Judge Tim Grendell, the head of Geauga County’s Juvenile and Probate Court, should this fall finally head into a hearing before the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court of Ohio on allegations of misconduct.

The hearing, which was originally scheduled for May, was delayed after the death of one of the participants and again delayed in late October. A pre-hearing conference is now set for Nov. 8.

His appearance before the board will come just months after hundreds of probate judges all over Ohio selected him the president of the Ohio Association of Probate Judges, despite the lingering misconduct allegations.

“I appreciate and do not take lightly this important responsibly that my fellow probate judges have entrusted to me,” Grendell stated in a press release in July.

A 70-year-old Republican with an infamous reputation, Grendell has amassed a lengthy political and legal career over the past half century. After running his own private practice, Grendell served on the Ohio Senate from 2005 to 2011, and was a member of the Ohio House from 2000 to 2004. He’s served as Geauga County Juvenile and Probate Judge since 2011.

His tenure in Geauga County has been marked by contentious decisions, allegations of undue political pressure, and a reputation that has many skittish to talk publicly about the judge.

In the matter now before the board, the complaint filed last November by the Ohio Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel centers on his professsional behavior beginning in 2020.

In May of that year, he directed his constable, John Ralph, to order Carson and Conner Glasier, aged 15 and 13, to visit their father, Grant Glasier. Both teenagers had been distant from their dad since May of 2017, when Glasier was first allowed to see them under the agreement he’d undergo anger management—he was accused of once “slamming Carson into a wall”—and parenting classes.

The kids, the complaint reads, felt “alienated” from their father, and refused to see him, despite being obligated by Grendell’s instruction. They were soon charged as being “unruly children,” and were sent to the Portage-Geauga County Juvenile Detention Center. The teens were supposedly denied phone calls, were kept isolated and were “checked” every 15 minutes. (Grendell had ordered “full restrictions.”)

Parties went to court in July 2020. Although Grendell would dismiss the charges, he, the complaint says, defends Glasier, claiming there’s no proof of him being an “abusive father.” He also disparaged the boys’ mother, Stacy Hartman, for creating a GoFundMe page to help with court costs.

“It’s not in the best interests of these boys to be exploited to raise money,” Grendell said.

“A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety,” the complaint reads.

In response to the charges against him—which include impropriety in another custody case, a dispute at the County Auditor’s and using his position to try and pass the “Truth in COVID Statistics Bill,” which was introduced by his wife, Diane Grendell—the judge has been expectantly defiant.

“First of all, I’m not a bully,” Grendell told Fox 8’s I-Team last year, regarding the Glasier case. “You sometimes have to take a tough position. You have to protect the children by trying to rein in the parents. That’s not being a bully. That’s called being a judge.”

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