Ex-high-court counsel Bettis dies

Staff report

SALEM

J. Warren Bettis, a former Ohio Supreme Court disciplinary counsel and Columbiana County Common Pleas Court judge, died at his Salem home. He was 86.

Born in Salineville, Bettis was Columbiana County prosecutor from 1965 to 1971, leaving that job after being elected as a common pleas judge. He served as a judge until 1986.

Bettis was then appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court as disciplinary counsel, a position he had from October 1986 to September 1993. He also served in that capacity from September to October 1997.

The disciplinary counsel investigates allegations and initiates complaints concerning misconduct, mental illness and/or substance abuse by attorneys and judges, and investigates and prosecutes complaints under the court’s rules governing the unauthorized practice of law.

Bettis, who died Thursday, served as a retired assigned judge in the Court of Claims of Ohio from 1993 to 2004, and as a magistrate in that court from 2005 to 2007.

Calling hours are noon to 1 p.m. today at the Salem First Presbyterian Church. The service will follow.