Palmer District Court gets a new judge

PALMER -- Gov. Frank Murkowski on Monday appointed a prosecutor to fill a newly created judgeship in Palmer District Court.

John W. Wolfe, 46, won the appointment. He was one of five candidates who applied for judgeship vacancies in both Palmer and Kenai.

Wolfe has been a prosecutor since 1985 and has served in district attorney's offices in Bethel, Kenai and Dillingham.

In 2003, Wolfe won a conviction in the Billy Dean Smith double-homicide case. It was the third trial against Smith, who shot and killed a Kenai couple in 1994. The first trial, in Kenai, had been declared a mistrial; the second, in Anchorage, ended in a hung jury.

Wolfe graduated with a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1983 and has practiced law for more than 20 years. He has served in the Dillingham District Attorney's Office since December 2002.

A report of survey scores from members of the Alaska Bar Association that ranked judgeship candidates for professional competence, integrity, fairness, judicial temperament, suitability of the candidate's experience and overall performance ranked Wolfe higher than the other nine candidates for the Palmer District Court judgeship.

Wolfe is also a member of the Children's Advocacy Center Board and the Community Justice Alliance in Dillingham.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.