Christopher McDowell began his first week as a Hamilton County common pleas court judge on Sept. 8.
McDowell was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to take the seat of Tom Heekin, who was on medical leave for more than a year before retiring in May. A visiting judge, Robert Ruehlman, had been handling Heekin’s docket.
McDowell, 56, will serve the rest of Heekin’s unfinished term and run for election in 2026. He now is a judge in a courtroom where as an attorney he took both civil and criminal cases to trial.
McDowell, who grew up in rural West Virginia, enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 17 to pay for college. He ended up being on active duty for seven years, serving as a military prosecutor in Korea and Germany. He also defended soldiers accused of crimes in multiple countries.
Most recently, he was a partner with the law firm Strauss Troy, where he handled both civil and criminal cases. He also served as a prosecutor for the City of Wyoming and the Village of Newtown.
“I only want to do the right thing,” McDowell said in an interview. “I just want to administer justice, make the city safer and give civil cases the attention they need.”
McDowell has a bachelor’s degree from Marshall University. He earned his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1994.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Newly appointed Common Pleas Judge Christopher McDowell begins first week on the bench
Reporting by Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
