Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan asks St. Clairsville city council for its support in his candidacy to be the next Belmont County Court of Common Pleas Judge. (T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA)

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan took to St. Clairsville City Council to ask for its support.

Flanagan recently announced his candidacy to be the next Belmont County Court of Common Pleas Judge. On Tuesday evening, Flanagan informed council that he would be running to fill current Court of Common Pleas Judge John Vavra who will be vacating his seat on Dec. 31.

Flanagan will be running in the primary on May 5.

“For the last five plus years, I have had the honor and the privilege as to serve as your prosecutor, and when I say it is an honor and a privilege, I mean that from the bottom of my heart for the last five years, it has been the greatest job in the world,” Flanagan said. “As I indicated, I’m seeking this position…For the last 31 years, I’ve built up this resume and if you like that resume, then I would ask for your vote. If you don’t like that resume, then I understand, and I will try to do better.”

Flanagan was elected as Prosecutor in 2020 and has worked for previous Prosecutor Frank Pierce and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bob Quirk – first as a clerk during law school in the 1990s and then as an assistant prosecutor.

He added that he worked regularly with the city’s law director Joe Vavra who is also Flanagan’s assistant prosecutor, council member Kristi Lipscomb who also serves as Common Pleas stenographer and police chief Matt Arbenz.

“These are the people that I think that can give you some true indication as to how I will do if, in fact, I’m fortunate enough to win in May,” Flanagan said.

He said that he first started earning criminal trial experience by assisting with the prosecutions of both Nathan Brooks and Nawaz Ahmed – two notorious homicide cases which garnered national attention.

“Joe [Vavra] and I try cases together, but I’ve been doing this so long and been in court for so long that people we have tried who received very serious sentences – life sentences in 1995 or 96 or 97 – I’m now handling their parole hearings,” Flanagan said. “The very first homicide case that I handled, which was Nathan Brooks – and obviously that hearing came up at the end of last year regarding his parole – to the case that Joe and I have now, the double homicide.”

Flanagan is referencing the trial of Andrew Isaac Griffin who is accused in the double murder of Thomas and Angela Strussion at their Trails End Drive home near Belmont in 2021. Griffin is a former business partner of Thomas Strussion’s in owning the former Salsa Joe’s. That case was expected to start March 2, but has since been moved to Oct. 19

Mayor Kathryn Thalman said that she appreciates his tough stance on crime in the county.

“Kevin, I fiercely love this town, and I can’t thank you enough. You take a hard line on crime, and I appreciate it,” Thalman said. “I almost feel like we’re in an insulated bubble of sanity here and all around us. I have to turn the news off sometime, but I very much appreciate you taking care of the law-abiding, wonderful residents of our town.”

She added that if he plans to continue to be as tough on crime as he’s been as prosecutor, then she is comfortable with him becoming Common Pleas Judge.