The appeals court hears appeals from various courts — including general, probate, juvenile and domestic relations divisions of the common pleas courts — in six counties: Montgomery, Greene, Darke, Miami, Clark and Champaign.
Michael T. Hall
Hall, 61, has been on the Montgomery County Common Pleas general bench since 1999.
“I really enjoy what I’m doing,” said Hall. “I’ve handled some of the most difficult cases that Montgomery County has had.”
One was the Erica Baker case, including the trial and conviction of Christian Gabriel, now in the fifth of a six-year sentence for abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Another, Hall said, was Doron Silverman, convicted of molesting his son after the boy was killed in a fire by his mother. The appeals court reversed Hall, finding he erred by including hearsay testimony from the boy without determining his competency, and set the conviction aside. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Hall acted properly and restored the conviction, returning Silverman to prison.
Hall, one of 11 children, was raised in north New Jersey and came to Dayton to attend the University of Dayton engineering school. Two years later, he became a Dayton police officer, serving from 1970 to 1976.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from UD in 1975 and graduated summa cum laude from UD’s law school in 1979.
He was in private practice for 20 years. In 1997, he was appointed to the County District bench in Huber Heights, where he heard traffic, misdemeanor and small claims cases.
In November 1998, Hall narrowly lost re-election to Connie S. Price, now one of his colleagues on the common pleas bench.
In August 1999, Gov. Bob Taft appointed Hall to the common pleas court to replace Judge James Gilvary, who died three months earlier. Challenged by Democrat Anthony Capizzi, Hall was re-elected in 2000.
Hall is a former treasurer of the Dayton Bar Association and former president of the Miami Valley Trial Lawyers Association.
If elected, Hall said that he looked forward to getting more time to work on decisions. As a trial judge, he said, you have to make many decisions on the spot.
Hall said that his criminal law experience would help him on the appeals bench, where 57 percent of cases are criminal.
He also said he respected the reputation of the 2nd District appeals court and did not seek to change the court.
“I don’t have any agenda,” Hall said. “I just decide cases.”
George B. Reynolds
This is Reynolds’ second run for the appeals court. In 2008, he defeated attorney Gary C. Schaengold in the Republican primary, but lost to Democrat Jeffrey Froelich in the general election.
“All my life, I’ve always wanted to serve,” Reynolds said. “I analyze and I write well. I love to analyze the law.”
While he has not been a common pleas judge, he has heard cases as a magistrate for nearly a decade.
A native of the Bronx, Reynolds, 67, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1965, then served as a gunnery officer during the Vietnam War. He received a master’s of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois, then got his law degree from George Washington University in 1976.
He worked for two Washington, D.C., law firms before becoming an attorney for NATO. From 1983 to 1985, he worked for the treaty organization in Belgium, handling contract disputes in several countries.
Next, he worked as a trial attorney for the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He retired, set up a private practice, then was appointed magistrate in 2001. He became chief magistrate in 2004.
A magistrate, hired by the judges, handles many of their duties in civil matters. He cannot hear criminal trials, but can handle civil trials. Reynolds notes that three of the five current appeals judges were never trial court judges.
One of Reynolds’ most notable cases was is the ongoing Dille property tax lawsuit between Sugarcreek Twp. and Centerville. Another was a controversial Walmart expansion in Sugarcreek Twp. in 2003.
Reynolds is on the faculty of the Ohio Supreme Court, where he teaches and plans curriculums for magistrates.
Reynolds said he would like to be able to have more influence to bring reform to the system. One idea he said he endorses is a public defender for indigent defendants in civil cases. Another is raising the prosecutor’s burden in death penalty cases higher than just beyond a reasonable doubt.
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