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Local attorney looks to secure seat on Barberton muni bench
BENJAMIN WHITE
Associate Editor
Published: June 14, 2013
After playing major roles in two recent high-profile trials, young Akron attorney Jill Flagg hopes to win a seat on the Barberton Municipal Court bench in November’s election.
At 33 years old, Flagg drew attention in her continued pro bono involvement in the sensationalized Brogan Rafferty trial and her representation of the family of Faith Finley in a highly-publicized Cleveland homicide case. She said she believes her experience would set her apart in her race against incumbent Judge David Fish, a former prosecutor who has held the seat since 2008.
“I think there’s a great potential for me to win. I think the advantage he has is that he’s been practicing law much longer than me,” she said. “I think that my record indicates that I have experience in a judicial position, and I think I’ve handled in my career much more complex matters.”
If Barberton residents elect her, Flagg said she would continue the court’s creation of specialty dockets. Specifically, she said she would assess the need for a drug court to complement the court’s recently established mental health court. She cited Franklin County’s drug court, which employs separate tracks for different drugs and even a solicitation program, as an example.
“I have a lot of plans in my head of what I’d do there,” she said.
Flagg gained judicial experience as a fill-in magistrate at the Akron Municipal Court. She also clerked for Judge Allison McCarty and Judge Edna Boyle and interned at the Stark County prosecutor’s office throughout her time at The University of Akron School of Law.
The majority of her experience, though, lies in hundreds of complex, high-level felony trials and intricate civil proceedings reaching into seven figures. Many of her cases also surround child abuse.
The case that first drew headlines for Flagg came largely from luck. Her initial involvement in the 2010 Finley asphyxiation case in Cuyahoga County came from a juvenile appointment. She represented the Finley family after Faith suffocated to death while being restrained by staff at Parmadale Family Services, a center for troubled children. Though the court found the three fired workers not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, the family chose Flagg to represent them in the civil case, which settled out of court.
“My client said to me, ‘I wouldn’t trust anyone else,’” said Flagg.
When Flagg read the details of the “Craigslist Killer” Brogan Rafferty murder case, she approached Rafferty’s attorney, John Alexander, to see if she could volunteer her services. She jumped aboard during the voir dire process and eventually filed most of the motions and conducted cross-examination during the trial.
After Brafferty, 17, received a life sentence without parole for his role in the killings, Flagg promptly appealed to the 9th District Court of Appeals on grounds of admissibility, jury instruction and ineffective counsel. She said the most assignment of error, though, challenged the sentence that she said assumed the teenager could never see rehabilitation. The appellate court has yet to rule on the case.
“It’s a case I feel really strongly about,” Flagg said. “I know the public doesn’t agree with me on everything about this case, but to me he is a kid. He was the kind of kid who would miss the bus and walk to school.”
“To say that he would not be rehabilitated in so many years is a hard call.”
Flagg’s interest in juvenile law meshes with her mental health background and training in the field of psychodrama, a form of therapy in which clients act out a traumatic action in a guided way. She said she has used the technique in court.
Along with helping improve relationships with clients, Flagg said the technique, in which witnesses act out relevant scenes during court, help keep the jury interested and involved.
“Instead of them hearing about a scene and getting question/answer, question/answer, they get to see the actual scene played out in court,” she said.
“It’s an interesting way to get insight into your life and to grow as a person and to learn listening skills and empathy,” she said. “I think that’s a big problem with the justice system – a lot of people we see in the justice system have some type of empathy erosion.”
Flagg graduated from and now teaches at famed trial attorney Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College, based in Wyoming. She teaches seminars on trial presentation throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania along with UA Law Professor Dana Cole, who serves on the college’s board of directors and has works with students at Harvard Law School on the incorporation of psychodrama in trial advocacy.
Flagg, who grew up in Northwest Ohio, followed her husband, Dr. William Lanzinger, to Akron as he attended medical school. The couple has two children and lives in Green. As her free time would dissipate in the event of a victory in the November polls, Flagg said she would find people to help care for her children and take over her pending cases. “We’re not ashamed to ask for help,” she said.
“My husband is a surgeon - I don’t have to work, but I really love what I do. I really enjoy helping people.”