Two applicants seek district judge position

A second applicant is now vying for a judge’s seat in Flathead County District Court.

Daniel Richard Wilson has submitted his application to the state Judicial Nomination Commission. He is currently a justice of the peace in Flathead County Justice Court.

An open seat in the district court became open after Judge Ted Lympus announced his retirement at the end of August.

Wilson has held the justice court position since 2011. His former experience includes private practice and working as a deputy county attorney in Cascade, Blaine and Flathead counties.

He has been a president of the Northwest Montana Bar Association and has served on committees in the Montana Magistrates Association and the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Wilson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.

In his application, he said he began looking into the district court position before he became a justice court judge. He chose to run for an open justice court position to learn more about the field and won.

That position led him to seek a seat on the district court bench.

“The forces which may come to bear upon a judge are many,” he wrote in the application. “A good judge remains devoted to the law because that devotion is, perhaps, the only way to steer clear of influences that could otherwise corrupt a judge’s decision-making.”

Wilson is the second applicant for the seat. The first was Amy Poehling Eddy, a private attorney who operates her own practice in Kalispell.

Eddy is the current president of the Northwest Montana Bar Association and a former president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association. She is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Law.

In her application, Eddy highlighted her civil litigation experience from local courts to the Montana Supreme Court, as well as filing briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I also possess the requisite level of organization and efficiency that is crucial to being able to effectively serve one of the busiest judicial districts in the state, and the vision and resiliency to fulfill the job for many years,” Eddy wrote in her application.

Lympus is the longest-tenured judge currently in Flathead County District Court, having served 23 years. He announced his retirement in early July, saying that he would like to spend more time with family.

The state nomination commission will interview candidates and submit a recommendation to Gov. Steve Bullock by November. The governor will then appoint a successor to Lympus.

That appointee will be up for election in 2016.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.