'We are beholden to truth, justice and fairness': Melissa Powers sworn in as Hamilton County Prosecutor

Melissa Powers was sworn in Tuesday as Hamilton County Prosecutor by the county's former prosecutor, newly appointed Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters.

In a packed courtroom at the county courthouse that included nearly all of the assistant prosecutors she will oversee, Powers said: "We and our law enforcement partners are the people who hold the line.

"We are the difference between safe neighborhoods and lawlessness."

She called being named prosecutor "the honor of a lifetime."

Powers' husband, Gary Green, stood with her as Deters, wearing a judge's robe, administered the oath.

The county Republican Party's central committee last week appointed Powers as prosecutor. Chief assistant Mark Piepmeier served as interim prosecutor after Deters on Jan. 7 was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

Powers began her legal career in 1991 as an assistant prosecutor with the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office and served in the office until 1998, when she went into private practice. Between 2006 and 2016, she was a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge. In 2016, she was elected as a juvenile court judge and was on the bench through 2022. She didn’t run for re-election.

Powers, speaking to those who will now serve under her as assistant prosecutors, said, "There is no job more important than ours."

It is a job, she said, that is often thankless and goes unnoticed.

Still, she said: "We are beholden to truth, justice and fairness. It is a philosophy I have lived by for the past 31 years as a public servant."

Deters was appointed in December by Gov. Mike DeWine to the Ohio Supreme Court.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Melissa Powers sworn in as Hamilton County Prosecutor