2013 News Releases

TOPEKA--Caleb Stegall will be sworn in as judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, in the courtroom of the Supreme Court in the Kansas Judicial Center, Topeka.

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Thomas Malone will preside at the ceremony.

Stegall was appointed 14th judge of the Court of Appeals by Gov. Sam ...

TOPEKA—The Court Budget Advisory Council delivered to the Kansas Supreme Court this morning its report identifying strategies to consider for addressing an $8.25 million shortfall in the Judicial Branch base budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2014.

Although 11 strategies were considered, only seven were recommended ...

Kansas Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss attended the National Center for State Courts Conference of Chief Justices Board of Directors meeting November 21, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

Nuss is the first chief ...

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court announced today that Lisa Taylor has been appointed public information director for the Kansas Judicial Branch. Taylor succeeds Ron Keefover, who founded the court’s public information office in 1981 and retired in September.

Taylor has more than a decade of state government communication ...

TOPEKA--Pittsburg State University will be the setting for a special session of the Kansas Supreme Court the morning of November 5, 2013, as the Court hears oral argument in four appeals. The Court will meet from 9 a.m. to noon in Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall at Pittsburg State University. The public is welcome to arrive and leave ...

TOPEKA--The Court Budget Advisory Council will conduct its organizational meeting in Topeka on October 7. The Council was created to study the consequences for Kansans and their courts if the Legislature makes no changes to its present Judicial Branch appropriation for Fiscal Year 2015.

The 10-member Council's appointments were ...

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court has reappointed 29 chief judges in Kansas and appointed two new chief judges. Their terms are effective January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015.

The court appointed Evelyn Wilson as chief judge of the 3rd Judicial District, which is Shawnee County. She has served as a district judge since 2004. She ...

TOPEKA--Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss today announced the Supreme Court's creation of a 10-member budget advisory council tasked with studying the consequences for Kansans and their courts if the Legislature makes no changes to its present Judicial Branch appropriation for Fiscal Year 2015.

During the 2013 legislative session the ...

TOPEKA--The 12th Judicial District Nominating Commission has selected Starla Borg Nelson, Jamestown, as District Magistrate Judge to succeed Judge John Eyer, who died, it was announced in Topeka today.

She was selected following public interviews conducted in Belleville Tuesday.

Nelson has been in private practice of law in ...

TOPEKA--The names of two Crawford County attorneys today were sent to Gov. Sam Brownback as nominees to fill a district judge vacancy created by the June retirement Chief Judge John C. Gariglietti.

Nominated by the 11th Judicial District Nominating Commission were Kurtis Ike Loy, Pittsburg, and David Kelley Markham, Parsons.  The ...

TOPEKA--The Supreme Court today sent a dispute over the Grace Episcopal Church’s proposed parking lot next to Bethany Place back to the City of Topeka for further study about the impact the parking lot would have on the registered state historic site, which is adjacent to the cathedral and Topeka High School.

The justices said in ...

TOPEKA--Four persons have applied for a District Magistrate Judge vacancy in Republic County created by the death of Judge John Eyer, it was announced in Topeka today.

They include Joel E. Cates, Belleville, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper; Candace J. Fielder, also of Belleville, with the Republic County Hospital; Paul J. Hickman ...

TOPEKA--Margaret Francesca "Peggy" White, Council Grove, today was appointed Morris County District Magistrate Judge to succeed Judge Thomas H. Ball, who retired in May, it was announced in Topeka today.

The appointment was made by the 8th Judicial District Nominating Commission, which conducted interviews of Judge White and ...

TOPEKA--The Kansas Supreme Court and the Kansas Bar Association (KBA) initiated a new effort to encourage use of an on-line game-based educational curriculum - iCivics – to reinvigorate civic learning in Kansas classrooms.

iCivics is a free on-line civics education program started by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O&rsquo ...

TOPEKA--Six Crawford County attorneys have applied for a judicial vacancy that was created by the retirement of Chief Judge John C. Gariglietti. Friday was the deadline to apply for the vacancy in the 11th Judicial District, which includes the counties of Cherokee, Crawford, and Labette.

Applicants include: David Brake, of Henshall ...

TOPEKA--Two Kansas court officials Thursday were recognized by the American Bar Assn. Thursday when they were presented prestigious awards as part of the ABA's annual meeting, in San Francisco.

Receiving the national awards were District Magistrate Judge Mary B. Thrower, Minneapolis, and Denise Kilwein, Director of Judicial ...

TOPEKA--Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss announced today that he has appointed Judge W. Lee Fowler to the Kansas Sentencing Commission. Judge Fowler has served as a district judge since 1997 in the 5th Judicial District. He presides over cases in Lyon and Chase Counties. Judge Fowler joins Judge Evelyn Wilson of Shawnee County as one of two district ...

TOPEKA—Kansas Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss was appointed to the Conference of Chief Justices’ Board of Directors during the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators (CCJ/COSCA) annual meeting on July 31 in Burlington, Vermont.

“When I consider all the talented people in the Conference ...

TOPEKA—Court of Appeals Judge Henry W. Green, Jr., a Leavenworth resident, swore in and spoke to the student legislators at the annual African American Youth Day at the Capitol on Friday, August 2, 2013, hosted by the Kansas African American Affairs Commission. The event brought in 50-60 middle school students from across the state to ...

TOPEKA—Chief Judge Merlin Wheeler, Fifth Judicial District, headquartered at Emporia, has been invited to attend the National Governors Association Three Branch Institute on Child Social and Emotional Well-Being in Philadelphia, PA, July 24-26, it was announced in Topeka Friday.

Kansas is one of six states invited to send a team ...

TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with appointing a district magistrate judge in Republic County has issued a request for assistance from the public.

The twelve-member commission is responsible for selecting a district magistrate judge to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge John Eyer.

“The ...

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court has been awarded a $205,152 federal grant to continue implementing a statewide electronic court case filing system, Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss announced today.

Called the Federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, it was awarded via the Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council ...

TOPEKA—Judge Thomas M. Sutherland, Lenexa, has received the Kansas District Judges Association Judicial Outreach program, a prestigious award that is presented to one judge each year for their exemplary professional and civic outreach at the local, state, and national levels, it was announced in Topeka today.

Judge Sutherland ...

TOPEKA—The American Bar Association will recognize two Kansas court officials by presenting them prestigious awards August 8, 2013, as part of the ABA’s annual meeting, in San Francisco, it was announced in Topeka today.

Receiving the national awards will be District Magistrate Judge Mary B. Thrower, Minneapolis, and Denise ...

TOPEKA—The Kansas District Judges Association, an organization open to all state district court judges, has elected officers for the fiscal year beginning July 1, it was announced in Topeka today.

Named president is Chief Judge Thomas Foster, 10th Judicial District, a one-county district consisting of Johnson County. Other ...

TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with appointing a district magistrate judge in Morris County has issued a request for assistance from the public.

The nine-member commission is responsible for selecting a district magistrate judge to fill the vacancies which has been created by the May 2013 retirement of District Magistrate ...

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court is actively recruiting child support payors and recipients for appointment as community members to the Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee. These appointees will be voting members on the committee and will serve four-year terms. The committee reviews the general rules governing how child support is ...

TOPEKA—The 9th Judicial Nominating Commission has sent the following names to the governor for an appointment to succeed Judge Carl B. Anderson: John Klenda and William Mills, both of McPherson, and Marilyn Wilder, Newton.

Judge Anderson, 66, had been the longest serving district judge in Kansas at the time of his retirement ...

TOPEKA—26th Judicial District Court Judge Kim R. Schroeder will be sworn in as a judge of the state Court of Appeals at 1:30 p.m. on ...

TOPEKA—The Supreme Court today upheld a Shawnee County decision that the City of Topeka's 2008 contract to purchase a $740,000 helicopter violated the state's cash basis law, because only five of the 10-member governing body voted for the lease-purchase, instead of six required under the law.

Today's unanimous ...

TOPEKA—Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss Thursday suggested legislators create and fund 22 new judicial positions as an alternative to repealing a statute that mandates at least one judge be located in each of the state's 105 counties and essentially prevents the Judicial Branch from transferring some of those judges to where they are most ...

TOPEKA—The Supreme Court today remanded a Topeka capital murder case for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel for among other things volunteering to the jury that the defendant had a prior manslaughter conviction and repeatedly referring to his client as a "professional drug dealer" and "shooter of people ...

TOPEKA—Sedgwick County District Judge Joseph Bribiesca has been appointed to sit with the state Supreme Court Tuesday, January 29, to hear oral arguments in a review of a Court of Appeals decision affirming the dismissal of a Lyon County personal injury case.

The Supreme Court appointed Judge Bribiesca to join them for the appeal ...

TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy in the 9th Judicial District has issued a request for assistance from the public.

The 9th Judicial District includes the counties of Harvey and McPherson.

The nine-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of ...