FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 3, 2019 – All 17 Jefferson District Court judges/judges-elect will be sworn in by Chief Justice of Kentucky John D. Minton Jr. at an investiture Sunday, Jan. 6, in Louisville. The event will take place at 3 p.m. ET in Suite 402 of the Mayor’s Gallery in Metro Hall at 527 W. Jefferson St. The public and media are invited to attend.
The judges/judges-elect were elected during the 2018 election cycle. Most are incumbents who kept their seats in the election, with only four being newly elected to the bench. Those being sworn in as new judges are Kristina Garvey, Tanisha A. Hickerson, Julie Kaelin and Lisa L. Langford.
Speakers at the investiture will be Deputy Chief Justice Lisabeth T. Hughes, Jefferson Chief District Judge Anne Haynie and attorney Marc Murphy, who is an editorial cartoonist for the Louisville Courier Journal. The West Louisville Boys & Girls Choir and Boy Scout Troop 212 will perform.
The incumbent judges being sworn in are District Court Judges David P. Bowles, Stephanie Pearce Burke, Anne Delahanty, Eric J. Haner, Anne Haynie, Annette Karem, Katie King, Jennifer H. Leibson, Jessica A. Moore, Sara Michael Nicholson, Jennifer Bryant Wilcox, Erica Lee Williams and Amber B. Wolf.
All of Kentucky’s district judges were up for election in 2018. There were 21 newly elected judges statewide in the 2018 election cycle. District Court judges help handle the nearly 900,000 cases that flow through the court system each year.
District judges handle juvenile matters, city and county ordinances, misdemeanors, violations, traffic offenses, probate of wills, arraignments, felony probable cause hearings, small claims involving $2,500 or less, civil cases involving $5,000 or less, voluntary and involuntary mental commitments and cases relating to domestic violence and abuse. District judges serve four-year terms.
Administrative Office of the Courts
The AOC is the operations arm for the state court system and supports the activities of nearly 3,300 court system employees and 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. As the fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC also executes the Judicial Branch budget.