Login | June 29, 2025
Portage County judge-elect has big goals for bench
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: December 31, 2014
Becky Doherty started law school when she was six months pregnant with her first child.
She had her second child in her third year of law school.
“I did it the hard way,” the 51-year-old Ravenna resident said of her lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer. “The dean of the law school at that time strongly encouraged me to drop out when I got pregnant even though my finals and my grades were great. I was like, `Hell, no.’ I took a week off. It was just a very different dynamic then. They would never think of doing that now to a woman.”
Soon Doherty, who has been chief criminal prosecutor in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court since 2011, will take on another welcome challenge.
The Republican will take over the bench of retiring Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow Jan. 1 after defeating Democrat Eugene L. Muldowney at the polls Nov. 4.
The daughter of two teachers, Doherty graduated from Akron University with a degree in education. Her juris doctor is from the University of Akron School of Law.
She still has a passion for teaching. Doherty is a certified police academy instructor at Kent State University.
“I love to teach. I would like to keep teaching at the Academy if I can,” she said. “It’s a time management thing. I work better under pressure.”
Doherty grew up in Coventry Township in Summit County, running track and editing the yearbook in high school.
If there had been a debate team, she would have been on it.
“I always knew I was going to be a lawyer,” said Doherty. “I was always defending others. If someone got in trouble, I was always jumping to their defense and arguing for them. It’s actually kind of surprising I became a prosecutor instead of a defense attorney.”
Doherty is divorced with two children. Daughter Caitlin, 26, works for a construction company. Son Ron, 24, is an aerospace engineer.
Although she used to enjoy golfing, Doherty has no time for hobbies anymore but doesn’t particularly miss them.
“I’m a workaholic,” she said. “I love being in trial, even though it’s the most stress ever.”
Doherty has also been a special assistant prosecutor in Portage County.
On a recent visit to the judge-elect’s new Portage County office, Doherty was busy juggling her duties from both counties -- all while fielding phone calls from reporters about breaking news.
“We had five homicides in Youngstown over the weekend,” she explained. “It’s a different pace in Mahoning County. Violent crime is much more prevalent. It will be really nice to work 10 minutes down the road. I live here (in Ravenna) because I wanted to raise my kids in a place where I felt safe and they felt safe.”
Her main goal is to get Ohio Supreme Court certification within six months to a year to start a drug court in Portage County for first-time felony abusers, citing the heroin epidemic as the legal community’s biggest challenge right now.
“A drug court wouldn’t cost any more money. It would just mean putting together a local team. In my 22 years as a prosecutor, I’ve never seen so many people addicted,” said Doherty. “Heroin is so cheap and easy to get. Arresting people and putting them in jail for a few days is just not working. The constant need for it turns into other crimes. You’re going to get it any way you can. Overprescribing of Oxycontin has created an older generation of drug addicts. Heroin is the cheaper form of Oxycontin. One pill of Oxycontin is 80 or 90 dollars. You can get heroin for 10 dollars. We have a whole range of heroin addicts from kids to adults.”
Another goal is to get a recovery facility strictly for females in Portage County to avoid having to keep sending women addicts out of county.
Doherty has prosecuted 22 death penalty cases and gone to trial on more than 200 felonies.
“I’ve had threats,” she said. “I’ve spent a career not making people real happy.”
Her most memorable capital case was that of Brett Hartmann, who was executed in November 2012.
Hartmann was convicted of brutally murdering Winda Snipes, a 46-year-old Akron woman, in 1997.
“He cut her hands off, stabbed her 137 times and slit her throat,” said Doherty. “Everything from the physical evidence to the nature of the case was just fascinating. It was very satanic in nature. I’ve also had beheadings and cases where people have done other horrible things. Sometimes it’s hard to switch gears.
“But I like to take on the most complicated cases. Last year, I tried a triple aggravated murder from 1974. He was in prison for another double murder, but he was about to get out. It was the oldest cold case in Ohio, and he was convicted on three fingerprints.”
In that case, James P. Ferrara was convicted of killing Benjamin Marsh, 33, his wife, Marilyn, 32, and their 4-year-old daughter, Heather. The family was found dead of gunshot wounds in their Canfield Township home. Their 1-year-old son was not injured.
“It was horrible,” Doherty said. “I only had one police officer left – all the rest had died. The BCI guy who lifted the prints was dead. It was amazing the family finally got an end. I still keep in touch with some of them. You kind of form a strange bond with the families.”
Doherty previously worked in the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, from 1990 until 2008, when she and other experienced assistants were laid off in budget cuts.
Portage County Prosecutor Victor V. Vigluicci has known Doherty since she worked in Summit County.
“I think she’s very qualified based on her experience and background,” said Vigluicci. “She’ll make a fine judge. She’s tried many cases and seen just about everything. That will certainly serve her well.”
Although she will miss knowing everything there is to know about a case from the start, Doherty decided a judgeship was the next logical step in her career.
“I saw this as an opportunity to take what I learned in my many years that’s not all negative,” she said. “There are some positives we can do.”