Candidate for County Court Judge speaks to voters –
By Patricia Beech –
One of the marquee races in Adams County this election cycle is for the seat of County Court Judge – a position held for many years by soon-to-retire Judge Alan Foster.
Local attorney and Adams County Court’s acting judge, Roy Gabbert, is one of two noteworthy candidates vying for the open judicial seat. A life-long resident of Adams County, Gabbert earned his law degree at The Ohio State University where he graduated with honors in 1989.
In a Q & A interview with the Defender, Gabbert discusses why he’s running for county judge, his personal history, his judicial philosophy, and how his life and career have been shaped by both his family and his professional peers.
Q: Why did you choose the study of law?
A: My father was a country lawyer, opening his law practice in Adams County over 65 years ago. He told me that the law was our nation having a conversation with itself. Sometimes the conversation becomes an argument. A courtroom is where we sort out these disagreements, and the study of law is the study of the rule book that makes this process possible.
Q: What and who have been the major influences in your life? Why?
A: My grandmother was named Jewel. I loved her so much that my wife and I gave this name to my daughter. My grandmother went to sleep every night with the Holy Bible on a table beside her bed and a ..22 caliber rifle on the floor underneath her bed. She told me that these two things were protecting her. The Bible defended her soul. And the .22 caliber rifle defended her home. My grandmother’s wisdom always made good common sense to me.
Q: What has been the greatest accomplishment in your legal career? In your personal life?
The greatest accomplishment in my legal career is when the Honorable Judge Duce Wilson and the Honorable Judge Alan Foster chose me to be their Acting Judge. They showed the confidence in me to competently fill in for them as Judge when they were unavailable, and, I will always appreciate this confidence.
The greatest accomplishment in my personal life is that my wife Amy and I can still occasionally make our daughter Lucy laugh at our corny jokes.
Q: As an “acting judge”, what do you consider your greatest strengths?
A: I consider my patience to be a real virtue as a judge. When folks come to a courtroom, they should be treated with courtesy and respect. This is their “day in court” and the judge should take the time to let folks be heard and have a say. I always try to be patient and courteous with everyone, inside and outside of the courtroom. We should remember that everyone we meet is having some type of struggle. Take the time to be kind. Courtrooms make people nervous. Witnesses are nervous. Attorneys are nervous. Jurors are nervous. I have been practicing law for over 28 years and I have been Adams County Court’s Acting Judge for over 20 years and courtrooms still make me nervous. Overcoming this and providing an environment with the personality of fairness is very important. Our county taxpayers own the Courthouse, and we public servants are their guests.
Q: What is your general judicial philosophy?
A: Judges should first and foremost be umpires, following the facts where they lead, and calling the balls and strikes fairly and impartially. Our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution understanding that judges have an important, but distinct role in our government. Legislators make laws. While it is true that judges swear an oath to follow the Constitution, so do legislators. The legislative branch should be the ones writing the laws. Modern arrogance should never replace the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.
Q: Who are your judicial role models? Why?
A: The Honorable Judge Elmer Spencer was Adams County’s Common Pleas Court Judge when I first became an attorney in 1989. He was a fantastic judge and a wonderful story teller. When he talked with you, he could make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. He said this to me one time nearly 30 years ago, “Little Roy, I am an old fat man and you are a young fat man. But what makes us the same down deep is that we are both legally trained to sort out the bologna sandwiches from the actual facts.” Man, what I wouldn’t give to have just five minutes to shoot the bull with Elmer again.
Q: What are the pros/cons of going to the bench compared to practicing law?
A: I have spent my legal career solving problems – tax problems, real estate problems, probate estate problems, child-support enforcement, traffic problems, misdemeanor problems, and other life problems have crossed my desk during my legal career. This practice will compare
favorably because in a courtroom, I also listen with an open ear and think patiently with an open mind, always working impartially to be a problem solver.
Q: Do you believe you would encounter any problems moving from your role as an advocate to a new role as a judge?
A: When I became Adams County Court’s Acting Judge over 20 years ago, I no longer took litigation cases as a side – taking advocate. The role of the umpire always suited me. I was even an actual umpire for the intramural softball league back in college. When we play board games in our family, I am always the old guy reading the rule book so that the game goes smoothly and fairly. I believe all situations go smoother when everyone knows the rules and when everyone follows the rules. That is true in life and true in the courtroom.
Q: If you observed a party in your courtroom being poorly represented by an unprepared or ineffective lawyer, how would you handle the situation?
A: Call a recess in the case and ask the attorneys to sit with me privately. Find out if the unprepared attorney is in distress – Sick? Overworked? Depressed? Under the influence? If a continuance is needed to insure the case participants get a fair trial, then grant it one time.
If the problem persists, get professional services involved to intervene to help the attorney with the problem. The simple truth is that the legal profession and lawyers have one of the highest rates of alcoholism, substance abuse disorder, and clinical depression of any job or profession in any American industry. A judge can be the first line of defense in protecting both the client who is getting poor legal service from the attorney, and, in getting help for the ineffective attorney who needs an intervention.
Q: Do you believe that voluntary professional and community service is a necessary commitment for persons holding public office? What forms of voluntary professional and community service have you been involved with in the past?
A: I have always tried to be generous with my time and my money when it comes to our local community. This is especially true regarding our children. I have participated for many years in the Adams County Fair 4-H Livestock Auction. The time and money I spend buying a 4-H child’s show animal at the Adams County Fair is an investment. It is a down payment on the educational and inspirational aspect of our county’s youth. My common sense thought is simple. I believe that if we are generous with our time and our resources helping kids when they are young, then I won’t be seeing those kids in my courtroom as defendants when they grow up. And I have been doing this for years.
Q: What is your message to voters? Why should voters support you?
A: I have been serving as Adams County Court’s Acting Judge for over 20 years. I have being filling in when the regular judge is unavailable for over a generation. I will not need any “on the job training” or any “instruction manual” to be your County Court Judge. I will work hard and I will be fair. I will follow the Rule of Law and not the Rule of Politics. Political side-taking and partial foolishness have no place in a courtroom.
My father told me that the law was our nation having a conversation with itself. I am encouraged that as long as the conversation continues, and as long as the Constitution is the rule book that we follow, then what binds us together will unite us and ultimately outlast the negative impulses that divide us. We know what is required of a judge. It is the same thing that is required of all of us. We find it in the Bible’s Book of Micah, Chapter Six, Verse Eight: “Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk Humbly.”
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