Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a Fifth Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of St. Peter in Nicollet County.  The opening will occur with the retirement of the Honorable Warren E. Litynski on June 30, 2005.  The finalists are James D. Fleming, Todd W. Westphal, and Kenneth R. White.

Fleming, of North Mankato, is the chief public defender of the Fifth Judicial District, a position he has held since 2001.  He was the first assistant public defender in the Fifth Judicial District from 1995 to 2001, an assistant Kandiyohi County attorney in Willmar from 1989 to 1995, a contract prosecutor with the law firm of Caswell and Associates in Oakdale in 1989, an associate attorney with the law firm of Gilsdorf and Jacobberger in St. Paul from 1988 to 1989, an associate attorney with the Riley Law Office in Edina in 1988, and a judicial law clerk with Ramsey County District Court from 1986 to 1988.  Fleming earned his juris doctorate degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1987, and his bachelor's degree in business administration from St. Norbert College in de Pere, Wisconsin in 1982.

Westphal, of St. Peter, is a shareholder with the St. Peter law firm of Mackenzie and Gustafson and an assistant Nicollet County attorney.  He has been an attorney with the firm and an assistant county attorney since 1989, and was a Fifth Judicial District judicial law clerk in Worthington from 1987 to 1989.  Westphal earned his juris doctorate degree from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul in 1987 and his bachelor's degree in music from Minnesota State University - Mankato in 1983.

White, of Mankato, is an attorney and owner of the Law Office of Kenneth R. White, and a part-time assistant Nicollet County attorney.  He has been a solo practitioner since 2002 and an assistant county attorney since April 2005.  White was an attorney with the Farrish Johnson Law Office in Mankato from 1983 to 2002, became partner in 1988, and managing partner in 1999.  He was also a judicial law clerk for Third District Judge James L. Mork in Albert Lea from 1982 to 1983.  White earned his juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1982 and his bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Carleton College in Northfield in 1979.

The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the Governor for district court vacancies that occur during the term of a judge.  The commission consists of 13 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial district.  The commission members include attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the Governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The commission received 14 applications for this judicial vacancy.