Saint Paul – The Commission on Judicial Selection today announced three finalists for a Seventh Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of St. Cloud in Stearns County.  The vacancy will occur with the retirement of the Honorable Richard J. Ahles on September 14, 2004.  The finalists are Kris H. Davick-Halfen, Thomas A. Janson, and Sarah J. Shella-Stevens.

Davick-Halfen, of Long Prairie, has been a Seventh Judicial District child support magistrate (formerly known as a contract administrative law judge) since 1998.  She is also a self-employed mediator, guardian ad litem and an independent hearing officer.  Davick-Halfen was an assistant Morrison County attorney in Little Falls from 1989 through 1997, a part-time assistant Wadena County attorney and a private practitioner in Wadena from 1986 to 1989 and an attorney with the law firm of Peltoniemi, Johnson and Majors in Wadena from 1985 to 1986.  Davick-Halfen earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks in 1985 and her bachelor of arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead in 1981.

Janson, of St. Cloud, is an attorney, partner and owner of the Schmitt and Janson Law Office in St. Cloud, a position he has held since 1986.  He was an associate attorney with the firm from 1983 to 1986.  Janson earned his juris doctorate degree cum laude from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul in 1983 and his bachelor of arts degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville in 1974.

Shella-Stevens, of St. Cloud, is the managing attorney for Central Minnesota Legal Services in St. Cloud, a position she has held since 1999.  She was a staff attorney for St. Cloud Area Legal Services from 1990 to 1999 and a litigation manual writer for the Minnesota Disability Law Center in Minneapolis in 1989.  Shella-Stevens earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1989 and her bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter in 1986.

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.