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Retiring Mahoning County Judge remembers ‘hard times,’ accomplishments
NATALIE PEACOCK
Legal News Reporter
Published: July 10, 2014
Judge James Evans, 71, is retiring after a successful 15-year career as a Mahoning County Common Pleas judge. It is the end of a career that spans almost five decades and began with what Judge Evans calls the “hard times” as a state highway patrolman.
“My salary as a trooper back in those years was $3,400,” he said. “We also then had to pay for the liability on the state cruisers. We had to the buy the insurance on the cruiser. So that led me to make more money by leaving the patrol and going to Youngstown State University as their assistant director of security.”
Another thing that piqued Judge Evans’ interest were the lawyers who contested the arrests that he made during his time as a trooper.
“I would go into court and there would be lawyers contesting a case in arrests (whether they be mine or someone else’s) and I knew I could do as good a job as I saw being done,” he said. “And there they were, lawyers making a ton of money, and I’m making $3,400.”
Today Judge Evans credits his time as a police officer as being extremely helpful when he’s hearing cases. But back then, he said he wanted something more. He already had a bachelor’s degree in education and criminal justice and a master’s degree in guidance counseling from Youngstown State University. He decided he wanted to keep going to school and receive his law degree so he went to Ohio Northern.
“I got my law degree in 1975,” he said. “I practiced law for 20 years.”
Judge Evans was in private practice, taking criminal cases as a court-appointed lawyer. During that time he also took traffic and civil cases. He also represented clients in civil injury accident cases. Then in 1995, he became a county court judge in Mahoning County. Four years later, he campaigned and won the race for common pleas judge.
“There were bigger cases, a lot more interesting cases,” he said. “You deal with a lot more civil trials and I really liked to handle civil trials. I thought it over and talked with my wife and jumped in. I’ve been here ever since.”
In his job as common pleas judge, Judge Evans said he sees more criminal cases than anything else.
“Unfortunately, at the present time in Mahoning County, we see more criminal cases than we see anything else,” he said. “They go from the lowest to the highest type of felony offenses. In civil cases, you really go from zero to infinity as far as a demand for damages out of, say, an auto accident or airplane accident or just basically being treated unfairly by some employer.”
The most rewarding part of being a common pleas court judge, Judge Evans said, is being part of the judiciary system in this state.
“It is so professional,” he said. “There are drawbacks, like when you don’t have professionals. But generally it is more professional when you’re dealing with the higher ups.”
While there are great challenges in Judge Evans’ job, he also says these same challenges can turn out to be the most rewarding experiences.
“Greatest challenges were probably in civil cases,” he said. “Wanting to assist injured people or those looking for retribution.”
For example, Judge Evans handled a case in which a woman was unfairly terminated from a job.
“A younger person was given the same job and she was just very poorly treated by a large corporation,” he said. “We had probably a six-week trial and the lady was awarded $35.7 million. It was very pleasing when you heard all the evidence and how she was treated. It was basically because she was getting up in years. It just made my heart feel really good when she was awarded a judgment like that.”
Judge Evans is set to retire Sept. 1. He said he felt that now was a practical time to do it.
“I’ve got a lot of time in and in addition to being on the patrol, I was a township trustee and I taught at YSU,” he said. “I have so much time in the Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System that it’s almost non-compensating to continue.”
As far as post-retirement plans, Judge Evans says he has several options.
“I thought of going back into teaching,” he said. “Or even reviewing or looking into the visiting court status that we have in Ohio, so I may hang in there for a little bit.”
In Ohio, the visiting court status allows retired judges the opportunity to continue on a part-time basis. The Supreme Court of Ohio calls a visiting court judge for assignments in different counties.
Judge Evans said what he will miss most after retirement are the many people he has worked with over the years.
“You meet so many people and you see their faces and you want to say ‘Oh yeah, I remember you but I don’t remember your name,’” he said. “Most people will walk up to you and ask ‘Do you remember me?’”
He is still very busy with various clubs and organizations, such as the Ohio Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Mahoning County Agricultural Society Canfield Fair, the Youngstown Saxon Club and the Ohio Township Association. Not too surprisingly, he does not have too much time for hobbies.
“I don’t play golf,” he said. “I used to, but I probably will get into some hobby of working on an older car. I like to mess around with the old ones.”
In looking over his judicial career, Judge Evans has a succinct view of how he would like to be remembered.
“It’s a completion of a very, very satisfying period of time,” he said. “When you deal with the honesty of others and when you’re able to pick apart when they’re not being honest. Because you run into that, too.”