HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Those in the Cabell County Courthouse have spent the week remembering longtime friend and colleague Chris Chiles who died this week. Chiles served more than three decades in the Cabell County Prosecutor’s office and nine years as Cabell County Circuit Judge.
“If you think of any major trial in the 80’s or 90’s until the time he left, Chris had something to do with it,” said current Cabell County Prosecutor Jason Spears who looked to Chiles as a mentor for his entire career.
“He was one of the few guys I’ve ever known in this business who could literally pick up a file the day of a massive trial if he wanted to and go in and try that case. You would have thought he would have been on it for 20 years,” Spears explained.
Chiles was hired as an assistant Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney in 1982. In 1990 was elected to the Prosecutor’s office. He served until Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to a vacancy on the bench in 2014. He was elected later that year to serve out the unexpired term of former Judge David Pancake. He was reelected to the bench in in 2016 and retired in 2023.
“Every child who went through an adoption he gave a Bible and took the time even if it was a busy docket to reach down to that personal level. That’s the Chris that everybody knows,” Spears said.
Chiles was survived by his wife of 45 years Michaela Bugg Chiles and three sons. Visitation will be from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Sunday, September 27, 2026, at Chapman’s Mortuary in Huntington. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. Monday, September 28, 2026, at First United Methodist Church in Huntington. Burial will follow at Ridgelawn Memorial Park.