Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced on Friday that Kelly Linger has been appointed as interim judge in the Columbiana County Municipal Court.

Linger will assume office on July 23 and will be fulling the seat of former judge Katelyn Dickey, who was recently appointed to the seat of Ohio's Seventh District Court of Appeals and serving the remainder of Dickey's unfished term.

In order to retain the seat, Linger must run for election in November of 2025 and win.

Linger graduated from Kent State University in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and received her juris doctor from Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 2006. She began her career in law in 2006 as an associate attorney for the law firm of Mark J. Obral and Associates.

In 2008, she became an attorney for the Columbiana County Criminal Defense League. From there, she became president of the Columbiana County Defense League from 2018 until 2021.

Between 2014 and 2016, she served as assistant law director and prosecutor for the village of Wellsville and from 2018 to 2019, she served as acting judge of the East Liverpool Municipal Court before it was absorbed into the Columbiana County Municipal Court.

Additionally, from 2007 until 2022, Linger owned a general practice law firm focusing on criminal defense, family law, custody disputes and estate planning and has served as an assistant prosecutor for Columbiana County since 2021.