Alaska district judges appointed

PALMER — Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter J. Maassen recently announced the re-appointment of three judges and the appointment of one judge for the state's four districts.

According to a press release from the Alaska Court System, Superior Court Judge Amy Mead was re-appointed for the First Judicial District, Superior Court Judge Paul A. Roetman was re-appointed for the Second Judicial District, Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews was re-appointed for the Third Judicial District, and Superior Court Judge Brent E. Bennett was appointed for the Fourth Judicial District.

The chief justice appoints a presiding judge for each of the four judicial districts and incumbents are eligible for reappointment each year, according to the press release.

Presiding judges have numerous responsibilities in addition to their normal judicial duties such as reviewing the trial court’s operations in their respective districts to ensure adherence to statewide procedures. They also work with the district’s area court administrator for proper administration such as staffing and scheduling.

According to the press release, Judge Mead was appointed to the superior court in Juneau in 2018. She earned her undergraduate degree from Boston University and law degree from Tulane Law School. She moved to Alaska from the East Coast in 1996 to serve as a superior court law clerk in Ketchikan, going on to practice law as an assistant district attorney, an assistant attorney general, and in private practice, working in all areas of law.

Judge Mead was appointed to the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct as an attorney member from 2012 to 2018. She was reappointed to the Commission as a judicial member in 2022.

Mead serves the First District which covers Angoon, Haines, Hoonah, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Prince of Wales, Sitka, Skagway, Wrangell, and Yakutat.

According to the press release, Judge Roetman was appointed to the superior court in 2010. He moved to Alaska in 1972 and he's lived in Kotzebue for 17 years. He earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and received his law degree from Regent University School of Law.

Roetman currently serves as Chair of the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, and is a member of the Three-Judge Sentencing Panel and the Statewide Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Roetman serves the Second District which covers Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, Utqiagvik, and over 20 villages.

Judge Thomas A. Matthews was appointed to the Anchorage Superior Court by Governor Bill Walker in 2018. He received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in 1981, and his law degree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 1985.

Matthews has served for more than 25 years on the Ethics Committee of the Alaska Bar Association, served as a member of the Civil Pattern Jury Instruction Committee and serves as a mentor judge to newer judges, and established and oversees a bi-weekly meeting for civil judges around the Third Judicial District.

Matthews serves the Third District which covers Anchorage, Cordova, Dillingham, Glennallen, Homer, Kenai, Kodiak, Naknek, Palmer, Sand Point, Seward, St. Paul, Unalaska, and Valdez.

Judge Bennett was appointed to the superior court in Fairbanks in 2019. He earned his B.A. in politics & government and pre-law from Ohio Wesleyan University and his law degree from University of Cincinnati College of Law. He moved to Alaska in 2006 and practiced law as an assistant public defender and assistant public advocate.

Bennett is a member of the Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee as an attorney member. He currently serves as a member of the Civil Rules Committee, the Judicial Conference Planning Committee, and as an alternate to the Statewide Three Judge Sentencing Panel.

Bennett serves the Fourth Judicial District which stretches from the Canadian border on the east to the Bering Sea on the west, and includes Fairbanks, Tok, Delta Junction, Galena, Nenana, and Fort Yukon in the east and Bethel, Hooper Bay, Aniak, and Emmonak in the west.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com