Last week an small town Ohio Judge dismissed a prosecutor's request to seek the death penalty in a murder case on the grounds that the County did not have the funds to pay for such a prosecution or to provide the defendant with the resources he would need to defend against one.
Yesterday the Ohio Judge reversed himself.

``The court finds that its concern as to financial impact was based upon prospective due-process considerations, rather than any actual deprivation,'' Simmons wrote in a one-page ruling."

Simmons issued his ruling just minutes after the Appeals Court dismissed, yes dismissed, the prosecutor's appeal of the judge's first ruling.

The prosecutor asserts Judge Simmons thought long and hard about this before the appeals ruling came down. How long and hard do you have to think to write a one page ruling?

State judges do not hold their positions for life. Could retention of his position have been a factor in the sudden turnaround? Does anyone know the Ohio process for selection and retention of Judges?