Smith on appeals court short list

PALMER — Superior Court Judge Eric Smith’s name was among six forwarded to Gov. Sean Parnell for possible appointment to a soon-to-be vacant state appeals court seat.

Smith, a Yale Law School graduate who has practiced law for 33 years — 30 of those in Alaska — was the only applicant forwarded who is currently practicing in Palmer.

Other names include Anchorage assistant public defenders Marjorie Allard and Douglas Owen Moody, head of the Fairbanks Office of Public Advocacy Susan Carney, Sitka assistant public defender Jude Pate and Doug Kossler, who works in Anchorage overseeing the attorneys handling state’s side of most of the felony appeals for the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals.

The governor has 45 days to make an appointment.