Douglas County judge appointed to state Judges Assistance Committee

TOPEKA—Douglas County District Judge Sally D. Pokorny was appointed to a four-year term on the Judges Assistance Committee by Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss of the Kansas Supreme Court.

Pokorny's term will run from July 1, 2017, through June 20, 2021.

The Judges Assistance Committee provides help to any Kansas judge in need due to mental or physical disability, or addiction.

As a former assistant district attorney in Shawnee County, a former county attorney in Montgomery County, and now as a judge in Douglas County, Pokorny has worked with litigants who struggle with addiction and mental or physical disabilities. She currently presides over the Douglas County Behavioral Health Court, which identifies and then helps people who are charged with criminal acts that were committed while the defendant was in the midst of a psychiatric crisis.

Other members of the Judges Assistance Committee are Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess, chair; Amie L. Bauer, municipal judge in Moundridge and Canton; Retired Judge and State Rep. Steve Becker of Buhler; Russell County District Magistrate Judge Marty K. Clark; Bourbon County District Judge Mark A. Ward; and Meade County District Magistrate Judge Keith A. Whitney.