C. Ashley Pike

Megan Bickerton

The race features long-time Republican incumbent Judge C. Ashley Pike, who did not receive his party’s endorsement. That went to his challenger, Megan Bickerton, an assistant county prosecutor. The race has also generated a number of lively letters to the editor, two stories on side issues, and has been a constant staple on social media, where most of the battles are being waged.

Now it is the time to hear from the candidates themselves, starting with Judge Pike, who worked briefly as an assistant prosecutor and public defender before being elected a county municipal court judge from 1982-88. Pike served as county juvenile/probate court judge from 1990 until 2000, when he was elected to the first of three terms as common pleas court judge.

Pike, 67, said his 33 years of judicial experience is what sets him apart from Bickerton. “All elected officials do important work but I think experience in the judiciary is particularly important,” he said.

Pike believes he is the only judge who has served at all three levels in the county. “I came up through the farm system and I think that has helped me develop as a jurist,” he said.

“She’s tried cases in front of me. I have no issue with her,” Pike said of Bickerton. “I think in her job she does a good job. But I think being an assistant prosecutor – and I was one — is a lot different than being a common pleas court judge.”

Bickerton, 36, said she has plenty of legal experience — nearly 12 years as an assistant county prosecutor, the last seven in this county. During that period she has handled more than 16,000 criminal cases, not to mention civil cases, too.

“In those 12 years, I’ve handled cases of various complexities, from felonies of the first degree to minor misdemeanors,” she said.

Bickerton has also served as Lisbon village solicitor since 2015.

As for the argument prior judicial experience is paramount, Bickerton pointed out that now-retired David Tobin was county prosecutor and never served as a lower-level judge before being elected common pleas court judge in 1986. Tobin was 37 at the time.

“I think anyone who started didn’t start out with 33 years experience,” she said.

Bickerton said she approached the party in January to express her interest in running and she believes her relative youth would bring a fresh perspective to the job.

“I think that’s a positive. Again, if I thought the status quo was getting the job done I wouldn’t be seeking this position. My decision to run comes from my belief that I can make a difference,” she said.

The only other major issue in the race appears to be Bickerton’s desire to start a drug court, stemming from her belief it is needed to address the opioid problem. Until recently, she worked in county municipal court, which started a drug court, and she has also contacted drug court directors in Cuyahoga, Jefferson and Summit counties.

Common pleas court judges can already sentence certain drug offenders to what is called treatment-in-lieu (TIL) of conviction, a combination of probation/treatment, but Bickerton believes that is insufficient. She described a drug court as a much more intensive and comprehensive approach for those convicted of lower-level non-violent drug offenses. The treatment program goes beyond substance abuse counseling to include mental health counseling, helping offenders obtain their GED, find work and obtain Medicaid and other public assistance.

“It’s a coordinated effort to make sure these people enter the program and get the treatment, and that they have the resources to complete the treatment,” Bickerton said.

There would be weekly court hearings involving counselors and probation officers to determine how the offender is progressing in meeting their program goals.

“It makes offenders more accountable on a much more regular basis as opposed to traditional (TIL),” Bickerton said. “With TIL there is a tendency not to be held accountable to the level drug court would hold them.”

Bickerton said establishing a drug court can be done mostly with existing staff but she said the county would likely need to add one or two positions, but there are state grants available to help fund the program.

Mahoning County has a drug court, and Bickerton said a study performed by Youngstown State University showed that 66 percent of people who completed the drug court program remain unarrested for at least two years. The figure for offenders who go through TIL is 45 percent.

Pike is not familiar with drug courts and has not heard any specifics from Bickerton, but he said everything described to him is already being done in some form by their TIL program

“The probation department has a whole list of rules (offenders must follow). We have some flexibility to tailor the supervision to the person we’re dealing with, and I think that’s where experience comes in. Because experience helps you decide if that person is really sincere and will they benefit from treatment, as opposed to should they go to prison,” he said.

As for the supposed effectiveness of drug courts, Pike was unaware of the YSU report but he has not seen any documented evidence of the drug court’s success. He noted Mahoning County continues to have “thousands of drug arrests every year” despite the existence of a drug court.

“There’s nothing compelling that makes me believe that it would be any more effective than what we’re already doing,” Pike said.

Pike expressed his dismay with the tone of some of Bickerton’s ads that suggest by failing to institute a drug court he has done nothing to address the opioid problem. “If I have any disappointment with her it is that she allowed these outrageous things to go on, like ‘Pike out of Touch, Out of Time.'” he said.

Much has been made of Pike’s speech to the county Republican Party during its endorsement meeting, particularly his advice to Bickerton, where he warned her about party chairman David Johnson and county Commissioner Mike Halleck.

“You are merely meant to be their puppet … Be careful of the slippery slope,” he told her.

Pike accused Johnson of running Bickerton’s campaign. “You think if she gets elected she doesn’t owe them? Anybody who doesn’t think that would be naive. I’m not saying anyone has tried to influence me in a particular case but it is pretty evident that I’ve been publicly criticized by Dave Johnson for decisions I’ve made,” he said.

Bickerton said she is not anyone’s puppet.

“From the beginning my campaign has been about the change I can bring, and I have promised myself I would stay positive and above all of this. I truly believe the people that know me and have worked with me know the person I am and know that the characterizations of me by Judge Pike are untrue and this is not the person I am or ever would be,” she said.

In a handout Pike issued to party members at the same meeting he compared his record to Bickerton’s, and the handout put a question mark in the box next to whether Bickerton was a full-time employee. Pike said he had been told by other assistant prosecutors who took her cases she was going to work part-time after returning from maternity leave.

Bickerton said she has always worked full-time except for when she was on maternity leave after giving birth to her son last year. “That’s the only time in my career I’ve taken off any significant time,” she said.

Pike said one of the accomplishment he is most proud is the acquisition of the former David Anderson High School in Lisbon and its conversion into the county Juvenile Justice Center. He worked to find the funding to pay for its conversion and line up related agencies to rent space in the building to help pay the mortgage.

“We made that project work and, of course, it’s still operating today,” he said

During his tenure as common pleas court judge, Pike played a key role in the renovation of the second-floor of the courthouse, which is where the courtrooms are located. The renovation focused on returning the courts to their original splendor.

Pike, along with former Judge Tobin, also started the court mediation program for civil cases.

Bickerton said if elected she would live within the court’s budget while also determining if cuts can be made.

As for her judicial philosophy, she believes her duty, “as any judge should be, is to interpret the law. You don’t make the law.”

And just because Bickerton favors a drug court does not mean she is soft on crime. “I’m a prosecutor and very much of the position that people need to be held accountable for their actions and they need to answer to the court,” she said.