TOPEKA — Chief Judge Peggy Carr Kittel of the 7th Judicial District has been appointed to sit with the Kansas Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in one case on the court's March 6 docket. After hearing oral arguments, Kittel will join Supreme Court justices in their deliberations and decision drafting.
“I am pleased that Chief Judge Kittel is taking time from her duties in the 7th Judicial District to sit with the Supreme Court,” said Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. “It's a great help to our court, and we look forward to her contributions in deliberating and eventually deciding this case.”
Kittel said, “It is my honor to be selected to sit with the Supreme Court. I look forward to serving the people of Kansas in this capacity.”
Kittel, a lifelong Kansan, is originally from Prairie Village. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a business administration degree in 1980 and received her law degree from the KU School of Law in 1983.
She was assistant district attorney in Wyandotte County from 1983 to 1990 and prosecutor for the city of Olathe in 1987. She then was an assistant district attorney in Douglas County from 1990 to 1996.
After practicing law privately from 1996 to 2001, she was named a fulltime pro tem district magistrate judge for the 7th Judicial District, which is composed of Douglas County. She was appointed a Douglas County district judge in April 2008 and named chief judge of the 7th Judicial District in September 2016.
All Supreme Court oral arguments are webcast live through the Watch Supreme Court Live! Link in the right-hand column of the Kansas Judicial Branch website at www.kscourts.org.
The case Kittel will hear is the third one scheduled on the Supreme Court's 9 a.m. docket Tuesday, March 6:
Appeal No. 118,527: In the matter of Linda S. Trigg
Original Proceeding Related to Judicial Discipline: Before she retired, Trigg was a district magistrate judge in Johnson County. The complaint against her alleges that her conduct at a hearing and her disposing of the matter without any legitimate inquiry into the allegations violated multiple canons of the Kansas Code of Judicial Conduct. Trigg failed to respond to a complaint, failed to respond to the order of cease and desist filed by the Commission on Judicial Qualifications, and failed to cooperate in the investigation.