HomeEric Eckes

Eric’s criminal practice has a wide-ranging scope in both state and federal courts throughout Ohio and Kentucky. He is known not only as an impassioned trial attorney, but also as a thorough litigator of federal and state appeals, including habeas petitions. He has conducted oral arguments before appellate districts across Ohio, and he has argued many times before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Eric’s criminal practice includes every type of criminal case. He has represented doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, police officers, politicians, political consultants, entrepreneurs, and business owners of all kinds. He routinely handles complicated federal conspiracy cases. He has defended clients against allegations of capital murder, rape, kidnapping, child pornography, terrorism, human trafficking, robbery, racketeering/RICO charges, bribery, tax fraud, embezzlement, healthcare fraud, wire/mail fraud, and distribution of drugs resulting in death. In other words, there is no type of criminal case that he is not prepared to take on.

Eric has served as an adjunct professor at both the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University. At each law school, he teaches Trial Advocacy. He has been invited to speak throughout the country on a variety of criminal defense topics for the following organizations:

• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 4^thAmendment Seminar in New York, New York
• The Colorado Public Defender Training Program in Denver, Colorado
• The Annual Ohio Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit in Dayton, Ohio
• The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy’s Annual Conference
• The Green Mountain Juvenile and Criminal Defense Institute’s Annual Conference for the Vermont Defender General
• The Federal Criminal Practice Seminar in Cleveland, Ohio (Northern District of Ohio)
• Just Us for Justice CJA Seminar in Columbus, Ohio (Southern District of Ohio)
• The Eastern District of Kentucky’s Annual Criminal Justice Act Panel Federal Practice Seminar in Lexington, Kentucky
• The Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Sex in the Spring Seminar in Columbus, Ohio.
• The Cincinnati Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Monthly Training Program
• The Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Annual Current Issues in Criminal Law Webinar
• Friends To the Indigent’s Annual Veteran’s Day Seminar in Cincinnati, Ohio
• The Hamilton County Public Defender Office’s New Lawyer Training Program

• Assisting the Ohio Innocence Project to overturn the wrongful murder conviction of Marcus Sapp. After a new trial was granted for Brady violations, Eric took over as lead counsel and continued the fight until Marcus was fully exonerated and the case was dismissed.
• Winning an appeal that overturned a conviction and life sentence for a wrongfully accused man in Dayton, Ohio. The conviction was for the alleged rape of a child. After tireless litigation upon remand that centered around the misconduct of the trial court and prosecutor’s office, Eric secured the dismissal of all charges.
• Obtaining probationary sentences in multiple cases where the accused was tried and convicted in federal court.  Probation is rare in federal court for those who plead guilty, and it is far rarer in cases where the accused goes to trial.
• Obtaining probation for a young man involved in a shooting in Kentucky. The accused was convicted of murder, but he was released on probation upon turning 18 due to Eric’s advocacy. The accused was 14 when the crime occurred.
• Winning suppression motions in state and federal court. He has filed multiple suppression motions where he convinced the prosecutor to concede the issue and not use the illegally obtained evidence.
• Assisting numerous clients to avoid criminal charges when consulted prior to charges being initiated.
• Representing many clients suffering from mental illness. Eric has secured dismissal of all charges in such cases due to the underling mental health conditions, including in an attempted murder case and an interstate kidnapping case. He is very experienced addressing competency concerns and Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity pleas.
• Representing clients facing the death penalty in his private practice, along with being specially appointed to handle particularly difficult cases. None of Eric’s clients who were facing the death penalty are sitting on death row. In fact, none are serving life sentences.
• Finally, winning many jury trials in state and federal courts for cases ranging from misdemeanors to the most serious of charges that would have likely resulted in life sentences for the accused if they had been found guilty.

Eric graduated magna cum laude from The Ohio State University. He earned his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society recognizing graduates who have attained a high grade of scholarship. He was also an Associate Member of the Cincinnati Law Review, an Articles Editor for the Human Rights Quarterly, and received a Rosenthal Institute for Justice Fellowship working for the Ohio Innocence Project.

Eric is licensed to practice law in Ohio and Kentucky. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Ohio, the Eastern District of Kentucky, and the Western District of Kentucky. He is also licensed to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Eric was interviewed about the Ohio Innocence Project’s 20-year celebration:

It’s tempting to imagine “villains” scattered throughout the criminal justice system, scheming to mete out unjust punishment. Eckes sees a less malevolent but more pervasive culprit.

“It’s human nature,” he said. “This ball gets rolling and it doesn’t allow for reflection. We’ve got the malleability of human memory. We’ve got the perseverance of prejudice. We’ve got the prevalence of confirmation bias. There’s a sense of ‘I’m doing the just thing; I’m the one locking up the bad guys.’ The system is almost built to where you’re offending it if you suggest that your client didn’t do it.” 

Then he added, “You know, the concept of justice is very flexible to almost all people. Justice is what you feel it is at the moment. The system crushes ambiguity, like there’s no such thing permitted in the courtroom. But the courtroom is about life, and life is about ambiguity.”

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