Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan has announces candidacy for Judgeship
Press Release
Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan has announced his candidacy to be the next judge of the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas.
Flanagan’s official announcement follows:
After five years as the prosecutor of this county and another twenty-five years as an assistant prosecutor, acting judge and civil litigator, I am now seeking to serve this county as its next common pleas court judge.
In 2020, I asked the voters of Belmont County to allow me to serve as their prosecutor. The continued litigation experience and my duties as Belmont County Prosecutor have now prepared me to effectively serve as common pleas court judge, a position that will be vacated by the Honorable John Vavra. To be an effective judge, it is necessary to have experience in trial work—the kind of experience that I bring as a result of my previous positions.
As a lifelong resident of Belmont County, I graduated from St. John High School and then received a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State and a law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law. I began in Belmont County working for Prosecutor Frank Pierce and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bob Quirk, first as a clerk during law school and then as an assistant prosecutor.
It was here that I started earning trial experience. While at the office, I assisted with the prosecutions of both Nathan Brooks and Nawaz Ahmed, two notorious homicide cases which garnered national attention. Our office is still actively involved with both cases in various court proceedings, whether it is arguing against parole for Brooks or other hearings for Ahmed who is currently on death row. I also had the privilege to work on the first DNA cases in our county in the mid-90s with both the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI.
While working in the prosecutor’s office, I was named Assistant Prosecutor of the Year in Ohio by the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
In private practice, I was associated with two very well respected law firms in the area. The first was Cassidy, Myers, Cogan, Voegelin & Tennant followed by Gold, Khourey & Turak. The attorneys in those firms were exceptional at their craft and fought hard for their clients. It was my honor to represent the people of the Ohio Valley while with those firms, assisting individuals who were injured or had been the victim of employment discrimination.
Even while in private practice, I served Belmont County as a special prosecutor at the request of then-Prosecutor Chris Berhalter. I was honored to be chosen to handle trials for his office including the homicide prosecution of Leroy Charley. That case was notable because it was the first known bitemark case in Belmont County history. Both sides utilized world renowned experts in the bitemark field. As it turns out, being in the prosecutor’s office now, I was able to appear at the parole board hearing decades after Charley’s conviction for aggravated murder and successfully argue against his parole.
From 2001-2013, I was chosen to serve as an acting judge in all three county courts of Belmont County. The judges that I served for included Bill Davis, Harry White, Frank Fregiato, Eric Costine and John Vavra. That was an incredible experience. It showed me that no two cases were alike. Each individual that comes before the court is different and each case deserves to be decided on its own merits. The judges that I worked for during that time gave me the freedom to decide the cases as I deemed appropriate. I appreciated the opportunity and their guidance.
In 2013, when Judge Fregiato transferred to the common pleas court bench, I was able to serve exclusively as his acting judge in county court handling his entire docket until a replacement judge could be named. I credit those experiences for preparing me for the position that I now seek.
In addition to the courtroom. I also served as an adjunct professor at Belmont College and as an instructor at the Mid-Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy. Working with individuals who wanted to be able to pursue careers in the criminal justice field was one of the highlights of my time as an attorney. Not only have I been able to teach these individuals about the law, but I have also had the good fortune of later being able to work with many of them in their chosen fields.
In 2013, I returned to the prosecutor’s office as Chief Assistant Prosecutor for Prosecutor Daniel Fry. I immediately found myself trying the highly publicized homicide cases of Devin Fuller, Joseph Barton and David Kinney—with the Kinney case being the subject of multiple national true crime shows, including Dateline.
After serving as the chief assistant prosecutor for eight years, I was elected as prosecutor in 2021. In my second term, my coworkers and I, with the assistance and support of the commissioners, have been able to grow the office commensurate with the caseload.
We’ve added an additional victim representative to meet the needs of those that have had injustices perpetrated against them in addition to an appellate and full-time civil division to provide legal guidance to the county. We’ve also completely transformed the case management system so that our cases come to us electronically and are accessible at any time and from anywhere. This allows our prosecutors to assist and guide our law enforcement partners, as needed, including after hours.
Over the past three decades, I’ve had the honor of working for Belmont County residents as their prosecutor, assistant prosecutor, acting judge and civil litigator. I’ve spent countless hours trying cases and practicing before the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas and its judges which have prepared me to seek this position.
The courtroom is a unique place. It demands experience and knowledge that only comes through trying cases and being involved in the day-to-day operation of the court. I have been fortunate that my career has always centered around a courtroom. It is this experience that I bring to the table and do humbly ask that I be able to further utilize that experience as the next Belmont County Common Pleas Court Judge.
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