Colleagues: Ex-Greene Co. Prosecutor Schenck was exceptional lawyer

Update@2:30 p.m.:

Former Greene County Prosecutor William Schenck, who died early Friday, is being remembered as a loyal friend, a pioneer for victims’ rights, and an exceptional trial lawyer by colleagues whose careers intersected with his.

He was the county’s prosecuting attorney from 1981-2006. Schenck was then appointed an assistant U.S. attorney and later an advisor and assistant Ohio Attorney General, but also fought health problems and alcohol abuse in recent years. Schenck was 71.

Schenck’s work to ensure victims of crime receive compassionate treatment through an often traumatizing ordeal is a lasting legacy, said Suzanne Schmidt, Greene County’s first assistant prosecuting attorney who came to the office shortly before Schenck was elected prosecutor.

“He was a pioneer in victim’s rights legislation and putting together a team approach for trials,” Schmidt said.

Schenck formed the county’s Victim-Witness division in 1982 and served as president of the National Organization for Victim Assistance. He testified before congressional committees including in 1994 advocating for the Violence Against Women Act that strengthened rules particularly in sexual assault cases.

“That was a dramatic change for women nationally,” said Schmidt.

Gregory Lockhart, former U.S. Attorney for Ohio’s Southern District, met Schenck in 1976 and their careers often dovetailed until Schenck left the federal office. Schenck was the most gifted trial attorney in the region, Lockhart said.

Lockhart said Schenck had a way of connecting with everyone in the courtroom from the victims, to witnesses. He remembers the reaction Schenck had on jurors hearing a sexual assault case involving a minor.

“I remember him doing the closing argument and when he finished there wasn’t a dry eye in the jury panel,” Lockhart said. “I was just watching this guy work and was in awe of his ability to connect the events that occurred in such a way with feeling and drama.”

“Most people know I’m hyper and manic and somewhat of a character,” Schenck told the Daily News in 1994. “It’s not that I’m wild in my conduct. I’m wild in my personality. I’m so enthusiastic about anything for which I have a passion and a cause for which I believe.”

First report:

Former Greene County Prosecutor William Schenck has died, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Schenck was elected as Greene County Prosecutor in 1980 and was re-elected for six more terms.

Schenck also was appointed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, serving for five years before becoming Senior Advisor and Assistant Attorney General in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The former prosecutor also was investigated for a series of OVI arrests including one in December 2013 and two separate OVI arrests within a week in August of 2015.

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