Gov. DeWine selects Anderson to serve as common pleas judge following Fleegle's retirement

ZANESVILLE − Following the retirement of long-time Judge Mark Fleegle , the Muskingum County's Court of Common Pleas' empty seat has been filled with a new appointment.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine chose Gerald Anderson II of Zanesville to take Fleegle's seat for the remainder of the current term. He will assume his new duties on Oct. 21 and will need to run for election in November 2026 to retain the position.

"I'm very excited about the appointment," Anderson said.

Anderson has a background overseeing domestic abuse violence, sexual violence, and elder abuse cases. "The main focus for my specialty, I would say, is in the sexual assault cases, primarily of children," he noted.

Anderson studied at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He passed the bar in 2014 and joined the Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office in 2015 after a short stint in private practice.

He served as one of Muskingum County's assistant prosecutors leading up to his appointment. "I started working on the appeals," Anderson stated. "Whenever I had the chance, I would try and take cases or work on cases with some of the other prosecutors and kind of continued my interest in special victim cases.

"I ended up handling all of the felony domestic violence cases for a while and then started working on some of the sexual assault cases with (Prosecutor) Ron Welch, kind of trained under him. That's kind of been my main focus for the past two or maybe three years."

"One of the main things I bring to the bench is just a good temperament. I have a good temperament to just review cases, listen to arguments, give everyone the chance to be heard, and just make sure that decisions are based on what the law is, what the facts are of the case," Anderson explained.

"I would bring just an orderly courtroom as well as continuing what Judge (Mark) Fleegle had done, which is making sure that people are held accountable and that the justice that is delivered in our county is consistent with what our community is expecting."

"Gerald's appointment as common pleas judge is well deserved," Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch said. "His service as a prosecutor was outstanding, and he has developed a fantastic reputation in the legal community. Gerald has the perfect combination of traits to be a judge; he is intelligent, hard-working, thoughtful, and compassionate.

"Gerald will be greatly missed by our office, but our loss is the community's gain."

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Gov. DeWine selects Anderson to serve as common pleas judge following Fleegle's retirement