Nicholas Circuit Judge Gary Johnson lost in the election to Steve Callaghan, brother of former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Mike Callaghan by just more than 200 votes (3,445 to 3,216).
Johnson is a nationally recognized leader in child abuse and neglect issues, and he currently is chairman of the state Supreme Court’s Court Improvement Program.
He also is a member of the 2014 Governor’s Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice, and the Commission to Study the Residential Placement of Children. As Chairman of the Court Improvement Program, he helped establish the first West Virginia University College of Law class on children and the law.
Johnson was given the Steward of Unity Award by the West Virginia Child Care Association in 2013; the Commissioner’s Award by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in 2009; and the Extra Mile Award by the West Virginia Children’s Justice Task Force in 2008. In 1999, he was named an Angel in Adoption by the United States Congress and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
The other sitting judge who lost was Logan Circuit Judge Doug Witten, who was appointed last summer by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to fill the seat after Judge Roger Perry retired. Witten lost to Joshua Butcher by 61 votes (4,580 to 4,519).
In all, there will be 15 new circuit court judges. Besides the two losses at the polls, four new positions were created and nine other sitting judges are retiring.
