15 June 2007

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Sixteenth Circuit Judicial Commission interviewed all applicants on June 11, 2007, and nominated a panel of three persons to Governor Matt Blunt to fill the position of Circuit Judge of the Sixteenth Circuit (Jackson County), created by the retirement of Judge Jon R. Gray. Governor Blunt will make the appointment from the panel of nominees within 60 days.

The nominees are Wesley Brent Powell, James Michael Tobin, and Brian Curtis Wimes.

Wesley Brent Powell is an assistant United States attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, where he is chief of the General Crimes Unit;

James Michael Tobin is in the private practice of law at the firm of Murphy & Tobin in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a municipal judge in Lee's Summit, Missouri; and

Brian Curtis Wimes is a drug court commissioner of the Jackson County Circuit Court.

The Judicial Commission, chaired by Judge Victor C. Howard, Chief Judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, is composed of attorneys Tim E. Dollar and Cindy Reams Martin, and lay members Byron G. Thompson and Anita L. Russell.

For interview requests or questions about the panel, please contact Judge Howard at (816) 889-3626, or Terence Lord, clerk of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, at (816) 889-3686 or via e-mail at terence.lord@courts.mo.gov.