Mary Wiseman

Mary L. Wiseman (born November 17, 1961) is an American lawyer and judge from the state of Ohio. On October 22, 2007, Governor Ted Strickland appointed her to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. 2Early life and political career Wiseman received her bachelor's degree from Ball State University and her law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. A Democrat, Wiseman was elected in 1998 to the Dayton City Commission, serving until 2002 when she declined to run for a second term. A lesbian, she was the first openly gay person elected to public office in Dayton. 2State judicial service in Ohio With her appointment to the bench, Wiseman became the first openly gay judge in the history of the state of Ohio. During her first year on the bench, Wiseman presided over the high-profile trial of China Arnold, a mother found guilty of burning her month-old baby to death in a microwave oven. In a case that made headlines around the world, Wiseman sentenced Arnold to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Wiseman is admitted to the bar in Ohio, Arkansas, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit and Ninth Circuit, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. She is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association and the American Bar Associatio