by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Twenty-four members of the legal community were invited to the Duval County Courthouse to interview for a seat on the bench of the Fourth Judicial Circuit Tuesday.
A list of six of those applicants will be submitted to Gov. Charlie Crist to choose someone to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Circuit Court Judge Peter Fryefield. That list will include County Court Judge Roberto Arias and attorneys Thomas Beverly, Alan Chipperfield, Corinne Hodak, Harvey Jay and Don Lester.
These candidates were chosen from a list of County Court judges, private-practice attorneys, prosecutors and public defenders that applied. They were each scheduled for 20 minutes to answer questions from the Fourth Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and explain why they were the right choice for the seat. The interviews were held in the chambers of Chief Judge Donald Moran. Applicants sat at the head of the table in front of the nine-member JNC, which included attorneys Ava Parker (chair), Rick Alexander, Robert O’Quinn, William Prichard, Wayne Alford, William Adams and Vivian Gallo and investigator Greg Strickland and businessman Deno Hicks.
“We want to make sure everyone is given a chance to be heard,” said Parker. “There are a lot of good applicants.”
It was at the discretion of the JNC to choose how many applicants they wanted to interview, but the guidelines for the list of candidates that is sent to the Governor to appoint a replacement requires 3-6 names to be submitted. That list is due Tuesday, but after a long day of interviews, and prior review of applications, the list was complete by 7:15 p.m.
This decision was preceded by a day of interviews with the 24 applicants, which consisted of six women and 18 men. The day started at about 8:30 a.m. and the structure of the interview remained the same throughout the day; applicants were asked to make an opening statement to explain why they would make a good judge, commission members would then ask questions and applicants were allowed closing remarks.
The structure remained the same throughout the day, and though the questions were different, they were asked to find the same answer, “Can you be fair and balanced on the bench after serving as a zealous advocate at the Public Defender’s Office or a successful prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office.” The commission also asked if the attorneys in private practice had enough experience to handle the variety of cases they might be hearing.
Circuit Court judges may have to face the difficult decision of sentencing people to death, so some applicants were asked about their stance on the issue. Other applicants were asked what they thought were the most important duties of a judge and some pointed out that teaching and mentoring should be a high priority with the number of law students that are graduating from law schools.
The day also offered a unique opportunity for the members of the JNC as four County Court judges appeared before a commission consisting of mostly lawyers, but the interviews were the same for all applicants, said JNC members.
“Everyone gets the same respect,” said Prichard.
The list may not have landed on the governor’s desk yet, but a division assignment may be on the minds of the applicants. Currently there is an opening in the Civil Division, where Fryefield presided, but that position will be filled on a seniority basis from the judges currently serving the Fourth Judicial Circuit, according to Chief Judge Donald Moran.
“Whoever the governor appoints will be a ‘junior judge,’ which means they aren’t too high on the totem pole,” said Moran. “New judges most often start out in family and juvenile division because they get to experience both the civil side with dependency court and the criminal side with juvenile delinquency court. It provides them with great experience.”
356-2466