Candidates interviewed for Flathead justice of peace

The Flathead County Commissioners interviewed two candidates Tuesday for a Flathead County justice of the peace position that will be vacant in January. 

Current Justice of the Peace Dan Wilson will be sworn in as a Flathead District Court Judge at that time, replacing the Honorable David Ortley. There are two county justices of the peace which handle cases such as traffic violations, evictions, small claims, drinking and driving cases and misdemeanor crime.

The candidates interviewed by the commissioners included longtime Kalispell attorney and substitute judge Eric Hummel, and a former law enforcement officer Garrett Nelson.

Hummel told commissioners he has 20 years of experience as an attorney including time as a clerk with the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court and as a prosecutor for the Flathead County attorney’s office. Hummel has been a private attorney and contract public defender most recently, as well as a substitute judge for Kalispell Municipal Court. Hummel said he’s worked with almost all areas of the law in the past two decades.

“I like being in court,” Hummel said. “For most people that’s not a good thing. For me, it’s my second office.”

Hummel told the commissioners he reads every Montana Supreme Court decision that is issued and has already served more than 300 hours as a substitute judge in writing five to 10 opinions. He said he thinks he has what it takes to be a judge.

“They want somebody who is fair, somebody who follows the law,” Hummel said.

A Kalispell woman spoke against Hummel prior to the interview and urged the commissioners to not appoint him as justice of the peace. She claimed he was a dishonest attorney.

Hummel, without getting into the facts of the ongoing case, defended his record. He has never been disciplined as an attorney, Hummel said.

“All you have is your integrity and your word, and I stand by mine,” Hummel said.

Former law enforcement officer Garret Nelson told commissioners he wants to work in the criminal justice system again. He previously served as an officer with the Anchorage Police Department for four years and also as an officer in Arkansas for four years. In addition to his law training, Nelson said he also has an associate degree.

Nelson told the commissioners that he was familiar with the law through his work as an officer and he did not believe there was such a thing as a victimless crime.

“For me, one of the greatest things and one of the things I miss having been in law enforcement is serving the community I live in and working with them, being their voice,” Nelson said.

He said he hoped to bring qualities that he used in his work as an officer to the justice of the peace job. Nelson gave an example of arriving to the scene of a crime and not believing the story of the first person he interviews, but also doing subsequent interviews and gathering as much information as possible to help make a decision about who should go to jail or be recommended for prosecution.

“One of the things, when I was a patrol officer, I always wanted to try and get as much information and not pass judgment until I had as much information as I could,” Nelson said. “I wanted to go out on scene and talk to as many people as I could before I rush to judgment.”

The commissioners grilled the candidates on their strengths and weaknesses. Nelson and Hummel were both asked questions about how they would react to evictions or other hypothetical legal situations. When they both admitted to either being a “perfectionist” or “procrastinator,” Commissioners Gary Krueger and Phil Mitchell made it clear that they are concerned about swift justice being administered.

“Our courts are hugely backlogged,” Mitchell said.

The commissioners are expected to make a decision on appointing a new justice of the peace the second week in November.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.