TOPEKA—Two judges and the head of the Supreme Court’s Death Penalty Appeals staff today were nominated to fill a vacancy on the Kansas Court of Appeals that will be created by the January 10 retirement of Chief Judge Gary W. Rulon.
The names of Overland Park Municipal Court Judge Karen Arnold-Berger, Finney County District Judge Robert J. Frederick, and Supreme Court staff attorney Deborah L Hughes, Lawrence, were submitted to Gov. Mark Parkinson Friday afternoon. He will have 60 days in which to select one of the three for the appointment.
The three were nominated by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission following interviews that were conducted Thursday and Friday. Seventeen judges and attorneys applied for the impending vacancy.
Rulon is retiring after 30 years on the Court, including 10 years as its Chief Judge. Judge Richard Greene has been appointed Chief Judge.
Arnold-Berger has been chief judge of the Overland Park Municipal Court since 1996, and a member of that court since 1991. In addition to her judicial duties, she teaches at the National Judicial College, Reno, NV; for the Institute for Faculty Excellence in Judicial Education, Memphis, TN; and for the American Bar Association Judicial Division.
Before her appointment to the bench, Arnold-Berger served as an assistant U.S. Attorney, and as an Assistant City Attorney for Overland Park from 1982—1989, including three years as First Assistant City Attorney. She received BA degrees in Personnel Administration, Political Science, and Psychology from the University of Kansas, where she also obtained her law dgree.
Headquartered in Garden City, Frederick has been a District Court Judge of the six-county 25th Judicial District since 2001. Before that, he was in private practice in Lakin since 1976, which included service as the Kearny County Attorney and as City Attorney for Deerfield. From 1987 to 2001, he was the school board attorney for USD 215, Lakin.
Frederick received a BS degree in Education from the University of Kansas in 1972 and a law degree from the Washburn University School of Law in 1975.
Hughes has worked as the Supreme Court's Special Projects Attorney since 2005. Before that, she served three years as a Shawnee County Assistant District Attorney. She engaged in private practice from 1989 until her appointment as Assistant District Attorney in 2001.
She received both her law degree and undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas, with a BA degree in Political Science.