PRESIDING JUDGES APPOINTED FOR 2020
December 17, 2019
The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court appoints a presiding judge for each of the four judicial districts. The appointments are for a one year term and cover a calendar year period, and incumbents are eligible for reappointment. In addition to regular judicial duties, the presiding judge of each judicial district has the administrative responsibility to supervise the assignment of cases and administrative actions of judges and court personnel, to keep current the business of courts, to review and recommend budgets, and to review the operation of the trial courts in the district to assure adherence to statewide court objectives and policies. Judge Stephens was appointed to the superior court in Ketchikan in 2000. Prior to his appointment Judge Stephens worked in private practice, as an assistant public defender, and as an assistant district attorney and district attorney. He received both his undergraduate and law degree from Willamette University College of Law. He serves on the court system’s Family Rules Committee, the Statewide Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee, the Child in Need of Aid Court Improvement Project Committee, the Jury Improvement Committee and the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission. He is also a member of the Three Judge Sentencing Panel. He was born and raised in Ketchikan. Judge Roetman was appointed to the superior court in Kotzebue in 2010. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Alaska, Anchorage and he received his law degree from Regent University School of Law. Judge Roetman has lived in Alaska over 45 years and was raised in Valdez. Prior to law school he worked in commercial fishing and as an Executive Director of the Prince William Sound Economic Development Council. After law school, he worked for a civil law firm, the Alaska Legislature, and as a prosecutor for the State of Alaska. Judge Roetman currently serves as a member of the Access to Civil Justice Committee, Civil Rules Committee, the Statewide Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee and the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct. Judge Morse was appointed to the superior court in Anchorage in 2002. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from Lewis and Clark. He worked as an assistant public defender, assistant attorney general, and associate general counsel for the IBEW Local 1547. He has recently rejoined the therapeutic court. He also presides over the Probationer, a collaborative program to monitor and assist probationers with alcohol and substance addictions. He currently presides over the Probationer Accountability with Certain Enforcement (PACE) court, a multi-agency program designed to provide a rapid response to probationers with alcohol or other substance abuse problems. Judge Morse is a member of the Appellate Rules Committee and he is the chair of the Governance Committee for the court system’s electronic filing project. Judge MacDonald received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1978 and his law degree from University of New Mexico in 1988. He was in private practice in Fairbanks from 1988 until his appointment to the Superior Court in 2007. Judge MacDonald is a member of the Family Law Rules Committee, New Judge Training Committee, Jury Improvement Committee, Child in Need of Aid Court Improvement Project Committee and Electronic Courts Committee. The Fourth Judicial District, with a population of about 133,000, is administered from Fairbanks, and extends from the Canadian border on the east to the Bering Sea on the west, and includes Fairbanks, Tok, Delta Junction, Galena, Healy, Nenana and Fort Yukon in the east and Bethel, Chevak, Hooper Bay, Aniak, St. Mary’s and Emmonak in the west.
Edited By Mary Kauffman, SitNews
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