A judge in Akron Municipal Court and a magistrate in the Summit County Juvenile Court are seeking the Summit County Common Pleas Court judge’s seat held for the past 24 years by Judge Mary Spicer, who is not seeking re-election this year. This race is nonpartisan.

Akron Municipal Court Judge Lynne Callahan, who has sat on that bench for 11 years, faces Thomas Freeman, who has spent the past three years as a magistrate in the juvenile court. The term commences Jan 3.

Callahan, 51, a West Akron resident, was an Akron police officer from 1984 to 1989, an assistant Summit County prosecutor from 1989 to 1994 and an attorney in private practice at David & Young from 1994 to 1997. She cites those experiences, along with her years as a judge, as reason for her election to this seat.

“I’m not just experienced, but I’ve got a broad range of experience,” Callahan said. “I’ve been a judge for 11 years. I’m experienced in the kinds of cases I’ve handled, I’ve got a proven record, and I’ve excelled in docket management and giving people their day in court.”

She added she loves her current job, in which she is the presiding judge in Family Violence Court. But she said the opportunity to run for a higher court was appealing.

“I don’t want to be 65 and say, ‘I should have,’” she said. “I need to do this now.”

Callahan said she is prepared to take on the heavy docket of a common pleas judge. Two new judges also will be elected in the upcoming election and will join the court in 2009.

“I have the ability to manage a very heavy docket,” she said. “The new judges will help, but there will still be heavy caseloads.”

She said if elected, she doesn’t intend to immediately start making changes. But she does have some ideas to bring to the court.

“I’ve had real good success with re-entry court, and I would like to see that expanded to cover everyone,” she said.

The re-entry court provides for court supervision over those who are released after serving time.

She added she also would like to see a separate court for child support cases.

Callahan said she has seen her share of challenging cases over the past decade in municipal court. She said vehicular homicide cases are often difficult but have prepared her for the kinds of cases she could see at the common pleas level.

She said her biggest professional accomplishment has been the formation of the Family Violence Court. Domestic violence is something Callahan, who ran unsuccessfully for Domestic Relations Court judge in 1998, said she is passionate about. The Family Violence Court is a domestic violence diversion program and is the only one of its kind in Ohio. Callahan said it has received both state and national awards. She is its presiding judge.

Callahan is married and has three children. She is an Akron native who graduated from The University of Akron (UA) for both her undergraduate and law degrees.

Freeman, 51, a Stow resident, is the married father of three. He said he has been interested in becoming a judge for a while and has worked the past three years as a magistrate in juvenile court.

“One of the reasons I became a lawyer is because I like problem solving and working with people,” Freeman said.

Freeman earned his bachelor’s degree from Mount Union College and his law degree from UA. He cites his broad background as to why he is the better candidate in this race.

After beginning his career in the Akron prosecutor’s office, the U.S. District Court and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, he entered the practice of Roderick, Myers & Linton and served as a litigator representing civil and business clients for four years. In 1992 he joined Charter One Bank, where he was responsible for litigation, compliance with federal regulation and corporate governance. When the bank eliminated its legal department in 2004, Freeman returned to practicing at Weltman, Winberg and Reis as an associate for a year before taking the magistrate job in Summit County Juvenile Court in 2005.

“I have a little more diverse experience,” Freeman said. “My opponent has been a municipal court judge, but mostly on the criminal side as a prosecutor. I’ve represented all kinds of clients, all kinds of people, in all kinds of proceedings.”

Freeman said as a magistrate he is very active in cases and he said he would do the same as judge. His magistrate experience has given him a taste of working with a busy docket.

“I’m big on trying to be active early on in the case,” he said. “I try to focus on the issues and see what the dispute is about. It’s important to be active up front.”

He added he has the temperament to be a judge.

“The priority is to be fair and impartial,” he said. “You’ve got to be patient and give people the opportunity to make a case. You need to look at the facts and the law and how it applies.”

Both candidates express an interest in using alternatives to jail time in some cases.

“It’s cheaper to keep someone in an alternative [program] than to keep them in jail,” Callahan said. “I work with fines, community service, house arrest, and I can step it up a notch and use work release. We have specialty courts like the Mental Health Court and Drug Court that I utilize. At some point in time [if they reoffend], they have to do jail time. It’s a balance. There are some cases where the immediate solution is jail.”

Freeman said he has seen the success of alternative programs at the Juvenile Court.

“Certainly there is a need to incarcerate people, but we try to keep people from recidivating,” he said. “We’ve got to make some effort to get them hooked up with the proper services or they won’t have any success.”

Both candidates display energy and enthusiasm and bring diverse experience to the table. But we feel Callahan’s 11 years as a judge in Akron Municipal Court make her the better candidate. She has handled thousands of criminal and civil cases during that time. The four years she spent as an Akron police officer also have given her experience that few judges can claim to have, and her years as a prosecutor — working in Spicer’s court — also have contributed to her knowledge of what happens at the common pleas level.

The West Side Leader endorses Lynne Callahan for Summit County Common Pleas judge.