28 July 2023

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Pursuant to Rule 10.28(d), the Appellate Judicial Commission announces the following demographic information relating to applicants for the vacancy on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, created by the August 2023 retirement of Judge Sherri B. Sullivan.

There are 22 applicants, of whom seven report they are female and three report they are minority applicants. Seven are employed outside the St. Louis metropolitan areas. Eleven applicants work in the public sector, seven work in the private sector and four work in both. Of those in the private sector, five work in a solo or small-firm practice. Of those in the public sector, 10 are judges. The applicants’ mean age is 50.1 years. 

Rule 10.28(d) permits the commission to select from among all a vacancy’s applicants those it wishes to interview. Historically, names of those being considered for a judicial vacancy were not released to the public; effective September 2010, the Supreme Court of Missouri changed Rule 10 to permit the judicial commissions to release the names of those individuals being interviewed. For this vacancy, the commission announces it will interview all 22 applicants:

Thomas C. Albus

Shane K. Blank

Madeline O. Connolly

Stephen S. Davis

Timothy M. Etzkorn

Peter W. Gullborg

Kathleen S. Hamilton

Craig K. Higgins

Timothy W. Inman

Joseph B. Kloecker Jr.

Maria A. Lanahan

Virginia W. Lay

Ellen S. Levy

Christopher K. Limbaugh

Jeffery T. McPherson

Rebeca M. Navarro-McKelvey

Susan M. Petersen

David E. Roland

Michael F. Stelzer

David R. Truman

Grant W. Wobig

Michael S. Wright

The commission is expected to conduct interviews beginning at 12:30 p.m. Monday, August 28 and 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, on the third floor of the Old Post Office building, 815 Olive Street, in downtown St. Louis. Interviews are open to the public, subject to available seating; they will not be available online.

The commission is expected to meet at approximately 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 29, after interviews conclude, at the Eastern District appeals court building to select the three nominees from this applicant pool for the governor’s consideration. 

Contact: Beth S. Riggert

Communications Counsel

Supreme Court of Missouri

(573) 751-3676