Montana District Court Judge Deborah Christopher has tendered her resignation, sparking conversations about the implications of her departure. Join us as we delve into the details surrounding her decision and its potential impact in the paragraphs ahead.
Montana District Court Judge Deborah Christopher’s Resignation
In a letter dated March 15, District Court Judge Christopher told Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath that she would be resigning from her position on April 5. Because her family has a long past in Lake and Sanders counties, she says the choice to resign was “especially bittersweet.”
Since March 8, when Christopher stopped her campaign funding account with the Commissioner of Political Practices, rumors have been going around that the judge was going to retire soon. But as of Tuesday, her name was still on the website for the Secretary of State.
In her letter to McGrath, she makes her intentions very clear. Christopher is leaving his job as judge after almost 24 years and four elections. In her letter to McGrath, she lists several important events in her life.
For example, she was the highest-ranking female officer and one of only 25 women in a group of 750 soldiers at Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia. She also served as an Airborne Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
She went back to Montana and worked as a junior Cascade County Attorney before starting what is now the Turnage, Mercer, and Wall Law Firm in Polson, Montana, where she grew up. She was the first woman to be chosen as Lake County Attorney and the first woman to be elected as a judge in the 20th Judicial District.
She talks about some of her most famous cases, such as the trial of State vs. Rodney Sattler in 1996, which was the last capital case in Montana that a county attorney successfully tried and won.
Additionally, she talked about a case against Hyundai Motor Company. The company was given a $240 million fine (later lowered to $73 million) in 2014 for a steering flaw that killed two teens. The judges also gave the families of the boys $8.1 million in fines to make up for what happened.
At that time, the lawsuit led to the fifth-largest money award in the country, and the jury was able to send the message that the lives of people in Montana mattered.
Christopher says that being on the bench taught her “so much about people’s lives, professions, qualities and flaws.” She also says that she is idealistic, caring, and tough.
In the last part of the letter, she thanked the people who helped her, the courthouse staff who let her into her locked office after hours, and all the personnel in the judicial branch, including her law clerks, Shari Puryer, and LeeAnn Erickson.
Britt Cotter, an attorney from Polson, has filed to run for Christopher’s seat. But it’s still unclear who will fill her place from April 5 until the end of her term on December 31. When a judge steps down mid-term, the governor usually sets up a selection group to look at applicants, question them, and recommend a temporary replacement. This process can take up to three months.
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