The Judicial Nominating Commission for the 12 county 12th Judicial District will meet in Alliance on Friday to consider the 5 attorneys who’ve applied for a county judgeship that will be based in Alliance.

The commission will hold a public hearing at the Box Butte County Courthouse at 10:00 to take testimony from and about the 5 attorneys who hope to succeed Judge Charles Plantz, who retired more than a year ago.

The applicants are Larry Miller of Alliance, Dawes County Public Defender Paul Wess of Chadron, Stacy Nossaman-Petitt of Scottsbluff, Audrey Elliot of Gering, and Mark Raffety of Omaha. Nossaman-Petitt and Wess have been unsuccessful judicial applicants before.

Each of the applicants will have a chance during the public hearing…which is open to the public…to make their cases for appointment to the bench. Members of the public will also be able to testify for or against any of the five.

The Nominating Commission will then send at least two names on to Governor Dave Heineman, who will make the final decision. A listing of the Commission members can be found on the Nebraska Judicial Branch Web site at http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/2606/twelfth-district-county-district-court.

After Plantz retired at the end of 2011, the Nebraska Judicial Resources Commission considered a proposal to move Sheridan and Grant counties from the 12th District to the 8th District and to move the judgeship to the juvenile court system in Omaha.

As a test run, County Judge Steven Orr of Valentine spent about 4 months driving weekly from Valentine to Rushville to conduct court…with County Judge Russ Harford of Chadron adding Plantz’s former duties in Alliance to his own.

When the Resources Commission met again in December to make a decision, it was told by virtually everyone connected to the test that it was an abject failure, leaving both judges tired, overworked, and behind. The panel then officially declared a vacancy, starting the process to fill it.