On Thursday, December 18, 2025, the Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint against attorney James Douglas Piergies, alleging misconduct during his tenure as a judge in Montgomery County.
The case is entitled “In the Matter of James Douglas Piergies,” with case number 2025-039.
Piergies, admitted to the Ohio bar on November 7, 1980, served as a judge in the Montgomery County Court from January 1, 1995, until his resignation on May 10, 2025. The complaint stems from Piergies’s criminal conviction related to securing employment for his son within the Montgomery County court system.
The investigation, conducted by the Auditor of State’s Office, revealed that Piergies arranged for his son, Robert Piergies, to be employed in the Montgomery County Clerk of Court’s Office and facilitated the transfer of funds from the Municipal Court to the Clerk of Courts to finance the employment.
Robert Piergies initially worked as a bailiff in his father’s courtroom in June 2018, when Piergies was a judge on the Montgomery County Municipal Court — Western Division. After Piergies became the administrative judge of that court on January 1, 2019, he arranged for Robert’s transfer to the Clerk of Court’s Office to perform information technology (IT) support work. Robert Piergies, by his own admission, lacked qualifications for the IT position.
Despite performance issues, including falling asleep at work and struggling with assigned tasks such as developing an electronic search warrant system, Robert Piergies received multiple raises during his employment. The complaint details that James Piergies signed orders directing transfers of $50,000 from the Montgomery County Municipal Court to the Clerk of Courts on three separate occasions to cover “Information Technology support.”
In July 2024, Piergies was initially indicted on three counts of Having an Unlawful Interest in a Public Contract, a fourth-degree felony. He later pleaded guilty on May 9, 2025, to three counts of the lesser included offense of Obstructing Official Business, a second-degree misdemeanor. As part of the plea agreement, Piergies resigned from his judicial position. He was sentenced to a suspended jail term, community control, and community service, which were terminated 26 days after his sentencing hearing.
The Disciplinary Counsel alleges that Piergies’ actions violated the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, specifically rules prohibiting a judge from failing to comply with the law and abusing the prestige of judicial office for personal or economic gain.
The complaint requests that Piergies be found in violation of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct and be sanctioned accordingly.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
