In the special election for Lucas County Juvenile Court, voters will decide between incumbent Judge Linda Knepp and Toledo Municipal Court Clerk Vallie Bowman-English.

Judge Knepp and Ms. Bowman-English each served as an assistant county prosecutor during their decades-long careers in the court system. Judge Knepp, a Republican, also spent a great deal of time working in child support enforcement and adult probation.

Judge Knepp, 56, was appointed to the bench in June, 2021 by Gov. Mike DeWine after the retirement of Connie F. Zemmelman. Judge Zemmelman had served for nearly 15 years.

The election Nov. 8 is for the final two years of Judge Zemmelman’s six-year term.

“My whole life, I’ve been passionate about trying to help people,” Judge Knepp said. “So without realizing it, I spent my whole time building a foundation to get to where I am today.”’

If elected, Judge Knepp said she would continue showing youth that there is a different path in life than gangs or drugs, and that the reason they’re in front of her in court could be placed behind them.

Ms. Bowman-English, 52, a Democrat, also believed that jail is not the only answer for young people, and that early interventions can steer them in the right direction.

Ms. Bowman-English was first elected as clerk of courts in 2003 and has spent the past nearly 20 years modernizing the court records system. Before she took office, it took up to two weeks for court records to be updated, and people were often re-arrested on things that had already been taken care of.

Ms. Bowman-English doesn’t believe the juvenile court is doing enough to reach troubled youth before they turn to crime. If elected, she would bring the court into the community, partnering with local organizations to reach families where they are.

“I would like to get into the root cause of the issues that are bringing youth into the court system,” she said. “I think we need to provide some more mental health programs and jobs and educational opportunities to give youth and their families the tools that they need as an alternative to crime.”

For the first 19 years of her career after law school, Judge Knepp worked in the Lucas County Child Support Enforcement agency, first as a trial attorney and later as the administrative hearing officer. After the dissolution of the administrative hearing officer’s department, she moved to a position in the court’s adult probation department.

While working in probation, Judge Knepp implemented the day reporting program, which substitutes jail time with a period of close supervision. She also facilitated group sessions with felons in the “Thinking for a Change” program.

“For this program, I became trained in cognitive behavioral thinking, and I worked with felons in groups three times a week for a 16-week program to help them with thinking errors and recognizing high-risk situations,” Judge Knepp said. “This training, coupled with my undergraduate degree in psychology, are skills that I use constantly as a judge.”

After her time in the adult probation department, Judge Knepp worked for three years in the Lucas County Auditor’s Office presiding over its Board of Revision. But she missed working with families, and eventually found herself back in the juvenile division as an assistant Lucas County prosecutor.

“The youth of today have different struggles and different situations and much more fear than even when I was a youth growing up in Detroit,” the judge said. “I feel blessed that I was able to come back to juvenile court within the past two, three years to understand the needs of youth and their families today.”

In the courtroom, Judge Knepp said she uses her cognitive behavioral training to challenge the way young people think. Her goals are to protect the youth as well as society, redirect young offenders from gang violence and drug abuse, and to help them find their passion in life so they can succeed as adults.

“We need to try to replace gangs and guns with education, sports, trade skills, and I’ve been doing that,” Judge Knepp said. “And I see a difference. And if I’ve seen a difference in 16 months, imagine what I could see in years.”

By introducing real-time data entry in courtrooms, a mobile app to expand public access to court documents, and increased payment options, Ms. Bowman-English fully revamped the Toledo Municipal Court’s way of keeping records.

“When I decided to run for clerk of court, I did it because I saw a need in the court system, and I feel the same way now,” she said. “Violence in our community is out of control, and the offenders are often juvenile.”

Before her election to the clerk seat, Ms. Bowman-English served as an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, representing the state in adult felony proceedings.

“I was born and raised here in Toledo in the central city, and I was part of the community that felt unseen, unheard, that no one believed in, and sometimes didn’t believe in myself that I would have an opportunity to get out and have a productive life,” she said. “I stand before them now as an example of someone who came from similar circumstances but has found a way out.”

Outside of the courthouse, Ms. Bowman-English was the first African-American elected as president of the Toledo Bar Association. She’s also on the board of directors of the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, and the Lucas County Juvenile Court Court-Appointed Special Advocates Advisory Board.

Additionally, Ms. Bowman-English is the current vice chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Judicial Family Network of the Ohio Supreme Court and the chairman of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council of Northwest Ohio.

Judge Knepp earned a position as a magistrate in the Lucas County Probate Court. Originally, she intended to spend the rest of her career in that position, but then, Judge Zemmelman retired.

“I have stepped out of my comfort zone to campaign to try and keep a job where I know I am where I should be, making a difference in the lives of children and families, protecting society, and empowering youth with positive alternatives,” Judge Knepp said.

Judge Knepp also presides over a family drug court, which was certified by the Ohio Supreme Court in August. She was appointed by the Ohio Judicial College to serve on the Juvenile Law and Procedure Committee, as well as the Specialized Dockets Committee. She’s a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Lucas County Bar Association, the Toledo Bar Association, and several other boards.

In the Toledo Bar Association’s 2022 Judicial Candidates Poll, nearly 400 members voted on whether they’d recommend Judge Knepp or Ms. Bowman-English for the bench. Ms. Bowman-English was recommended by 77 percent of those voters, while Judge Knepp was recommended by 83 percent.

First Published November 2, 2022, 8:59 p.m.