James M. Petro (born October 25, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician of the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Party who served as the

Attorney General of Ohio The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the attor ...

. Previously, Petro also served as

Ohio State Auditor The Ohio State Auditor (formally known as the Auditor of State) is responsible for auditing all the public offices of the state of Ohio. The auditor is elected to a four-year term. The current Auditor is Keith Faber. References External lin ...

and he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

during the 2006 Ohio primaries, but lost to

Ken Blackwell John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician, author, and conservative activist who served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–80), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–99), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007) ...

Early life and early career

Petro was born October 25, 1948 in

Brooklyn, Ohio Brooklyn is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Cleveland. The population was 11,359 at the 2020 census. Geography Brooklyn is located at (41.435357, -81.744457). According to the United States Census Bureau, the ...

. A Brooklyn High School graduate, he attended

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...

Granville, Ohio Granville is a village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is east of Columbus, the state capital, and west of Newa ...

where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree and joined the

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternit ...

. He later earned his J.D. degree from

Case Western Reserve University School of Law Case Western Reserve University School of Law is one of eight schools at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association. It is a member of the Association of American ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

. Petro served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Franklin County as a trial lawyer responsible for felony prosecutions, and then as Assistant Director of Law for the city of Cleveland, Ohio. After starting his private practice, Petro became prosecuting attorney for the city of Rocky River, Ohio.

Political career

Petro began his political career in 1977 when he was elected to the Rocky River city council, and later served as the director of the city. In 1980, he was elected to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

. He served four years as a state representative. In 1991, Petro became County Commissioner for

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1 ...

; during his four-year term he was President of the board for a year. Petro was elected Ohio Auditor in 1994 and re-elected in 1998, serving two terms from 1995 to 2003. As Auditor he served as the chief inspector and supervisor of public offices in the state; the office is the largest state auditing agency in the United States, second in size only to the United States

Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...

. In November 2002, Petro was elected the Ohio attorney general, serving from 2003 to 2007. In 2005, Petro became the first Ohio attorney general to argue a case in front of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in over thirty years; he won the case by a vote of nine to zero. As Ohio's Attorney General he successfully defended the law banning late term abortions in the state. As attorney general, Petro also launched an effort that added 210,000 criminal DNA profiles from Ohio to the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Candidacy for Governor

On January 30, 2006, Petro announced that Joy Padgett would be his running mate for the Governor's position. Padgett, a Republican state senator from

Coshocton, Ohio Coshocton is a city in and the county seat of Coshocton County, Ohio, United States approximately 63 mi (102 km) ENE of Columbus. The population was 11,216 at the 2010 census. The Walhonding River and the Tuscarawas River meet in C ...

, was selected after Petro's first running mate, Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, dropped out of the campaign to run for re-election as Commissioner of Hamilton County. Petro was defeated in the May 2, 2006 primary by

, Ohio's then- Secretary of State.

Legal work and ''False Justice''

Petro became the first attorney general in the country to intervene in a case spearheaded by the

Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futu ...

, a non-profit legal clinic that pioneered the use of

DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, ...

to prove wrongful conviction. The case exonerated Clarence Elkins, a family man with no prior criminal record who had been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his mother-in-law. After his involvement in subsequent high-profile cases including Dean Gillispie. Petro and his wife Nancy co-authored ''False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent'', which raises questions regarding the fairness of our justice system and identifies flaws in how police and prosecutors handle evidence, especially in capital cases. The book also examines how the authors believe DNA evidence has played a critical role in exonerating convicted people and highlight what the authors call the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.

Board of Regents

Petro was appointed chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents in March 2011 by Governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

. Chancellor Petro leads the

University System of Ohio The University System of Ohio is the public university system of the state of Ohio. It is governed by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The system includes all of Ohio's public institutions of higher education: 14 four-year research unive ...

, which is one of the largest comprehensive systems of public higher education in the nation. The University System of Ohio bears the primary responsibility for raising Ohioans' educational attainment.Governor's office press release
. Ohio.gov (February 2011). Retrieved on January 22, 2016.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petro, Jim 1948 births Case Western Reserve University School of Law alumni Chancellors of the University System of Ohio Denison University alumni Living people Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio Attorneys General People from Brooklyn, Ohio Politicians from Cleveland State Auditors of Ohio