CHARLESTON – Twelve people have applied for the seat on the Kanawha Circuit Court left by the retirement of Judge Tod Kaufman.
The dozen candidates include six who applied for the vacancy left by Judge Charles King’s death in December. Maryclaire Akers was chosen by Gov. Jim Justice to replace him. The other six includes a current Family Court judge and another who sat on the Circuit Court after being appointed temporarily.
The returning candidates are Kevin Baker, Kenneth Ballard, Mark Browning, Christine Fox, Travis Griffith and Beth Kavitz.
The new candidates are Nicole Cofer-Fleming, Jim Douglas, Dan Greear, Eric Hudnall, Mychal Schulz and Zoe Shavers.
Baker is Charleston’s city attorney. Ballard is a Kanawha Family Court judge. Browning works at Public Defender Services in the habeas corpus division. Fox previously served as King’s law clerk. Griffith is a defense attorney at his own Griffith Law Center. Kavitz primarily handles child abuse and neglect cases with her own law firm.
Cofer-Fleming is a traffic safety resource prosecutor at the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute, according to LinkedIn. Douglas also is a Kanawha Family Court judge. Greear is Chief of Staff for the West Virginia House of Delegates and previously served as a circuit judge when Justice appointed him to fill the seat created by the retirement of Judge Jim Stucky in 2018. Hudnall is a staff attorney for the state Supreme Court, according to LinkedIn. Schulz is an attorney with Babst Calland in Charleston. Shavers is the Deputy Chief Public Defender in Kanawha County.
Kaufman announced his retirement March 8. It was effective March 31. A Charleston native, he was elected to the bench in the 13th Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County) in 1988 and re-elected in 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2016, serving as Chief Judge of West Virginia’s largest circuit several times.
The state Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission will review the applicants, narrow the list and make recommendations to the governor, who will make the appointment for the vacant seat.
