Yesterday was election day. This post summarizes results that are relevant to the criminal justice system. State constitutional amendment allowing felony bench trials: The amendment, discussed in this previous blog post, passed. It won just 53% of the vote but only a simple majority was needed. I hope to post later about implementation issues that may arise. State supreme court: Generally, the incumbents won. Justice Martin will continue as the chief justice, Justice Hudson retained her seat, and it appears that Justice Beasley will retain her seat, though her edge over Mike Robinson is just a few thousand votes so I believe that Robinson would be entitled to a recount upon request. Judge Sam Ervin, currently on the court of appeals, edged out Justice Bob Hunter, who had been on the court of appeals but was recently appointed to the supreme court. Ervin’s victory will open up a seat on the court of appeals, and I imagine that Justice Hunter will receive strong consideration for that spot. Switcharoo? Court of appeals: Judge Davis retained his seat, as did Judge Stroud, who was running unopposed. Superior Court Judge Lucy Inman took the Hunter seat over District Court Judge Bill Southern. In the 19-candidate mega-race for the Martin seat, former court of appeals judge John Tyson emerged as the winner with 24% of the vote. Superior court judges: I don’t think that any sitting superior court judges lost in the general election. [Update: a reader alerted me to the fact that John Bowers, who was [...]
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