---
title: "Mia Wortham Spells | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/mia-wortham-spells"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-07-27"
---

# Mia Wortham Spells

Dayton Municipal Court · Municipal Court Judge

## Profile

- Court: Dayton Municipal Court
- State: Ohio
- Role: Municipal Court Judge
- Service status: active
- Last verified: 2026-07-27

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### remote hearing exhibits

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance tells courts to include instructions for submitting exhibits or notifying the court of witnesses when remote-hearing information is sent to participants.

Evidence excerpt: Instructions for submitting exhibits or notifying the court of witnesses.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26

### remote hearing ground rules

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance recommends advance ground rules for documents, exhibits, screen sharing, and pre-marking exhibits for remote hearings.

Evidence excerpt: Documents: Share any documents/exhibits that will be reviewed in advance. Use the share screen function while documents are being discussed during the hearing. Request that the documents are pre-marked for exhibit purposes.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26

### remote recording

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance states that litigants, attorneys, and the public should be instructed not to record the hearing.

Evidence excerpt: The court should instruct the litigants, attorneys, and the public to not record the hearing.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Official roster](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Ohio Judicial Conference Directory official judicial roster](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)

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## Biography

### Professional career

- Dayton, Ohio native and elected judge of the Dayton Municipal Court, serving since 2015 and currently through December 31, 2027
- Current Role: Elected Dayton Municipal Court Judge (nonpartisan, six-year term)

### Education


### Additional information

- In 2002, she produced the award-winning documentary Brown at 50, chronicling Dayton’s school desegregation
- In 1993, she successfully used the “battered woman defense” in the State v.
- She also held the role of a law clerk for the Legal Aid Society and has been active in public service, including as President of the Mercy Manor Board in the early 1990s, helping formerly incarcerated women reintegrate into society
- Among the few female attorneys in Montgomery County, Ohio
- handling death penalty cases.
- handling criminal, traffic, civil, and domestic cases.
- She later opened a community-based law office
- Judge Spells has received multiple awards, including the Legal Advocacy Award from the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, the National NAACP Foot Soldiers in the Sand Award, and alumni honors from the United Negro College Fund and Wilberforce University
- She has been involved with numerous organizations, including the NAACP, National Bar Association, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the Thurgood Marshall Law Society.