The state Judicial Selection Commission will meet May 16 in Knoxville to conduct a public hearing and interviews with applicants for a state Court of Appeals vacancy created by the April 2 death of Judge Houston Goddard.
The public hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Ballroom, Salons A & B, at the Radisson Summit Hill Hotel, followed by private interviews with the 13 applicants. The 17-member commission will submit three names to Gov. Phil Bredesen, who will appoint a new judge to succeed Goddard.
Applicants for a seat on the appellate court are Chancellors Thomas Frierson, II, of Morristown, and G. Richard Johnson of Johnson City; Judge Jacqueline E. Schulten of Chattanooga; and attorneys Paul Campbell, III, Whitney Durand and Russell Fowler, all of Chattanooga, Mark A. Brown, William Brownlow Marsh, M. Denise Moretz and Linda J. Hamilton Mowles, all of Knoxville, Sharon G. Lee of Madisonville, William Thomas McFarland of Kingston and Loren E. Plemmons of Lenoir City.
The Court of Appeals position will be on the August ballot in 2004 to fill the unexpired term ending in 2006, when it will again be on the ballot for a full 8-year term. Appellate court judges are elected on a retention, or yes-no, statewide ballot. The 12-member Court of Appeals hears appeals in civil – or non-criminal – cases, sitting in panels of three in Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson.
Goddard had served on the Court of Appeals since 1974 and was presiding judge from 1995 until his death at age 77. He also served in the state Senate from 1967-72.