Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a Seventh Judicial District trial court bench vacancy. This opening will occur with the retirement of the Honorable Thomas P. Schroeder on October 26, 2007. The Minnesota Supreme Court certified the continuation of the chambers of this judgeship for the city of Detroit Lakes in Becker County. The finalists are Kevin S. Carpenter, David W. DeGroat, and Joseph A. Evans.

Carpenter, of St. Cloud, has been a solo practitioner in St. Cloud since 1999. He was a partner with the St. Cloud law firm of Holmen and Carpenter from 1997 to 1999, and an attorney with the St. Cloud law firm of Quinlivan, Sherwood, Spellacy and Tarvestad from 1980 to 1997, where he became a shareholder in 1987. He was also a Seventh Judicial District law clerk in St. Cloud from 1979 to 1980, and a law clerk for the Duncan, Jones, Riley and Finley law firm in Des Moines, Iowa in 1979. Carpenter earned his juris doctor degree from St. Louis University Law School in St. Louis, Missouri in 1979, and his bachelor of arts degree cum laude from St. John’s University in Collegeville in 1976.

DeGroat, of Ogema, is a solo law practitioner and a professor with the White Earth Tribal and Community College in Mahnomen. He has been a self-employed attorney in Ogema since 1999, and was an assistant Mahnomen County Attorney from 1999 to September 2007. DeGroat earned his juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1994 and his bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Moorhead State University in 1991.

Evans, of Detroit Lakes, is the Becker County Attorney, a position he has held since 1994. He was an assistant Becker County Attorney from 1976 through 1993 as well as an associate attorney (1976 through 1977) and shareholder (1978 through 2001) with the Detroit Lakes law firm of Benshoof, Hummel and Sinclair. Evans earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Washington Law School in Seattle in 1976, and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1973.

The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the Governor for district court vacancies that occur during the term of a judge. The commission consists of 13 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial district. The commission members include attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court. The commission received 14 applications for this judicial vacancy.