Born and raised in Cincinnati, Sean lives in Kennedy Heights in the house he grew up in. His

family moved to the area when his father was hired by Procter and Gamble as a management

trainee. His mother was the school nurse at Seven Hills where Sean went to school from Pre-K

through high school. Sean attended Boston University for two years, before leaving school to

pursue other opportunities. This led him to New York, where Sean embarked on a career in the

film industry. Over the next 12 years, he worked as a grip on numerous film and television

productions ranging from small, independent films to major features such as “A Beautiful Mind”

and “Vanilla Sky.” Sean credits his time on “Law and Order”, which he worked on and off for

five years, as sowing the seeds for his future legal career.

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In 1997, Sean became a member of the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees

(IATSE) Local 52. He remains a proud member of Local 52 to this day. Sean was living in

Brooklyn on September 11, 2001, and watched as the tragic events of that day unfolded. In the

aftermath of the attacks, all film work in NYC was cancelled. Sean and his union brothers

volunteered to help with recovery efforts and clearing debris.

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In 2002, Sean married Elissa Mays and the two began planning to have a family. It was time for

Sean to come home. In 2004, Sean moved back to Cincinnati and started attending Xavier

University to finish his undergraduate degree. Just as classes were starting, Sean and Elissa

welcomed their son Seamus into the world. For the next two years, Sean was a stay-at-home

dad during the day and a full-time student at night. He graduated summa cum laude from

Xavier in 2006 a couple months after his daughter Nora was born.

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With his mind set on becoming a prosecutor, Sean enrolled in law school at the University of

Cincinnati. Sean remained a full-time dad while in law school. Upon graduating and passing the

bar exam, Sean was hired as an Assistant Prosecutor with the Hamilton County Prosecutors

Office. Sean began in the juvenile division prosecuting juvenile offenders. Juvenile court

encompasses the entire gamut of criminal charges contained in the Ohio Revised Code, from

traffic violations to the most violent felonies. Sean then transferred to the municipal division

where he prosecuted adult, misdemeanor charges that occur inside Hamilton County. This

included every charge from simple traffic matters, to domestic violence and assault charges.

In 2014, Sean was transferred to the appellate division, where his primary responsibility is

responding to criminal appeals filed in the First District Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court

of Ohio. Sean also handles State’s appeals, both in the First District and the Supreme Court of

Ohio. During his tenure in the appellate division, Sean has litigated more than 100 cases before

those two courts. The issues addressed in those appeals range from simple weight of the

evidence claims to complex constitutional challenges and death penalty litigation.

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In addition to his primary duties, Sean is also responsible for reviewing and responding to

parole applications. In this capacity, he evaluates each individual to determine if opposition is

appropriate. When it is, Sean works with the victims and their families to try to ensure that

dangerous individuals remain in prison.

 

Sean and his family still live in the house he grew up in. Seamus is now in his first year at the

Ohio State University. Nora is a senior in high school.