Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky is pictured during a hearing in his courtroom in August 2013. The West Virginia Supreme Court has appointed Senior Status Judge Thomas Evans III to fill-in for Stucky for an undecided time frame. Gazette Mail file photo.
By: Lacie Pierson, Staff Writer | Posted: Mar. 12, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
A retired judge from Jackson County has been appointed to hear cases for a Kanawha County circuit judge.
The West Virginia Supreme Court issued an order to recall Senior Status Judge Thomas Evans III to preside over cases assigned to Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky. Evans began hearing cases in Stucky’s courtroom on Monday.
According to the order, Stucky advised state Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Workman that he was “temporarily unavailable to preside” and requested a judge to preside over his cases during his absence.
In the order, Workman indicated that Evans would preside over Stucky’s cases until Stucky returns or she “deems that assistance is no longer needed.”
Chief Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom and state Supreme Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy would not say why Stucky was absent.
Stucky has not been in his courtroom since at least March 6, when other Kanawha circuit judges were listed as covering Stucky’s cases as listed on court dockets.
Evans, of Ripley, retired as a circuit judge in December 2016. He served for 16 years in a circuit that includes Jackson, Mason, Roane and Calhoun counties.
Stucky was an assistant Kanawha County prosecutor when then-Gov. Cecil Underwood appointed him as a circuit judge in September 1997, and he’s been re-elected ever since.
Stucky joined the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney’s office in 1979, and he was the county’s prosecutor from 1983 to 1985. After running unsuccessfully for circuit judge in 1984, he left the prosecutor’s office in 1985 to work in private practice. He rejoined the prosecutor’s office as an assistant prosecutor in 1995.
Reach Lacie Pierson at lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @laciepierson on Twitter.
