Webster
Workman
CHARLESTON -- West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman will deliver the oath of office to Carrie Webster, who was appointed to the circuit court bench in Kanawha County, at noon on Dec. 28 in Courtroom Four, the historic courtroom in the Kanawha County Courthouse on Virginia Street in Charleston.
Governor Joe Manchin III appointed Webster on Dec. 2 to the seat left vacant by President Obama's appointment of Judge Irene Berger to the federal court in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Webster has been a member of the House of Delegates since 2001, and chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee since 2006. She resigned from the House on Dec. 3.
According to West Virginia Code Section 51-3-18, she must wait 20 days from her appointment to take office. The law gives citizens that amount of time to challenge the qualifications or eligibility of any judicial appointee.
"I'm eager to get to work," Webster said. "I'm excited about being a judge and doing what a judge is supposed to do."
Chief Justice Brent Benjamin on Nov. 11 had appointed Senior Status Judge James O. Holliday to serve in the vacant position in Kanawha County until Manchin made his appointment. Holliday, a retired Judge who served in the Twenty-Ninth Circuit of Putnam County, will continue to serve until Webster's swearing-in.
"I'm grateful to the Supreme Court for appointing Judge Holliday," Webster said. "It was in the best interest of Kanawha County citizens to keep the docket moving."
Webster is an associate with the Charleston law firm Bucci, Bailey & Javins. She previously was an assistant public defender in the Kanawha County Public Defender's Office from 1997 to 2000.
She has a bachelor's degree in political science from West Virginia University and a law degree from the WVU College of Law. She was born in Fairfax, Va., grew up in Moorefield and has lived in Charleston since 1989. She is married and has one daughter.
