Two Republican candidates — Jacqueline Gaines and Jennifer Petrella — are competing for the seat being vacated by Judge Denise Cross, whose term is set to expire on Jan. 2 next year.
No Democrats filed to run for the seat, so the winner of the Republican primary March 19 should be elected in November. Early voting for the March 19 primary election begins on Wednesday.
Montgomery County’s Domestic Relations Court has two judges, and Democrat Timothy Wood is running unopposed this year for the other seat.
Jacqueline Gaines
Magistrate Jacqueline Gaines said her 13 years of experience seeing cases five days per week, paired with her personal experience as the mother of two girls and a stepmother to a 23-year-old, make her equipped for the challenge of Montgomery County Domestic Relations Court judge.
“It really helps to have that perspective as a parent,” she said. “In domestic relations court, we’re dealing with people whose family structure is changing. They’re trying to juggle so much. I really have a lot of empathy for the people who come into court dealing with those issues.”
Gaines started her legal career in Dayton, working in business litigation, workers’ compensation and employment law. She has 19 years of legal experience.
The magistrate said she’s passionate about domestic relations because the average person is far more likely to interact or need resources from that court system than many others.
“Most people are not going to be involved in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, a medical malpractice lawsuit or a big criminal jury trial,” she said. “But the reality is that 40% of marriages end in divorce. It’s likely that somebody is going to have to cross our threshold. I like helping everyday people.”
For those individuals, the courtrooms can be confusing and daunting spaces. If elected, Gaines wants to continue work toward connecting with the community.
She said this would include seminars and workshops detailing how the county’s domestic relations court works, information campaigns to spread awareness about domestic and dating violence in the community, and other work to help address the impact of opioids and mental health on local communities.
Two years ago, Gaines ran as a Democrat for Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge, losing to Angelina Jackson. She said after the Democratic Party endorsed her opponent in that race, some Republican lawyers and others approached her to run as a Republican, “recognizing my talent and moxie.”
Gaines is a graduate of DePauw University and Indiana University. She works as an adjunct professor at both the University of Dayton and Indiana University, and she is a member of multiple organizations for law professionals.
Jennifer Petrella
Court administrator Jennifer Petrella said her experience overseeing the daily activities of the court and handling cases as a magistrate make her a well-rounded judicial candidate.
“I understand how the court actually operates, how to run it,” Petrella said. “I always tell people I run it like a business, and it’s a business funded with taxpayer dollars. So we have an extra layer of being fiduciaries of the money that’s entrusted to us.”
Before becoming the court’s administrator in 2015 and working as a part-time domestic relations magistrate, Petrella worked in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court as a director of court services and a chief deputy clerk, among other roles. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Dayton, where she helps prepare students who are taking the examination.
Topics addressed in a domestic relations court are often tied to personal traumas, a thought Petrella says she carries with her throughout her work week.
“My court hears difficult cases, between dating and domestic violence or divorces and families breaking up,” she said. “We have to have an additional layer or level of empathy, to somehow find a way to communicate in a meaningful way so they know there are resources here.”
The Montgomery County Domestic Relations Court sees, on average, 2,000 cases for domestic violence civil protection orders annually.
Petrella said that if she were elected to the judicial seat, she’d continue her work to raise awareness about resources that exist through the court system for survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence and seeking solutions for prevention through mental health treatment.
“With that, we will get an opportunity to move ourselves into a better space,” she said.
Petrella would also want to focus on partnerships with organizations that build career skills for young people, and the candidate said she’s also passionate about ensuring court access isn’t challenging for the community.
“We have to find a balance of how we meet folks where they are and give them opportunities,” she said.
Petrella is a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit College and the University of Dayton School of Law.
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