Valley Journal
Valley Journal

This Week’s e-Edition

Current Events

Latest Headlines

What's New?

Send us your news items.

NOTE: All submissions are subject to our Submission Guidelines.

Announcement Forms

Use these forms to send us announcements.

Birth Announcement
Obituary

Jayne removed from list to succeed McNeil

Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local. You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.



Subscribe now to stay in the know!

Already a subscriber? Login now

In a conference call meeting on Sept. 11, the Judicial Nomination Commission passed a unanimous motion to reject applicant JoAnn “Joey” Jayne, Lake County Justice of the Peace, for the position of district court judge for the 20th Judicial District.

The motion said “(Jayne’s) application was rejected on the grounds that it was incomplete, that the applicant admitted she lacked confidence in her ability to research and conduct legal writing, that the applicant failed to follow the directions on submitting the application and that there may be a question as to whether plagiarism was involved.”

In an affadavit dated Aug. 29 in response to a letter from the commission on whether her writing sample was her own, Jayne said, “In my haste to file the application and select a writing (securing a writing occurred at the last minute,) I thought any court filing would meet that requirement.”

Jayne continued, “Now that I re-read the application instructions for a writing sample, I do concede that the writing I submitted is not my original writing.”

The position was vacated when Judge C.B. McNeil retired on Sept. 5. The commission is charged with interviewing applicants for the position. Applicants needed to submit their paperwork by Aug. 7. 

Commission members will be in Polson on Tuesday, Sept. 24 to interview the candidates in room 316 in the Lake County Courthouse, and the meeting is open to the public. 

Public comment was accepted by email, letter or telephone until Sept. 9, and those comments are available at 

http://www.courts.mt.gov.

The commission will forward the names of three to five nominees to Governor Steve Bullock for appointment. The nominee appointed by the Governor will serve until January 2015.  The position is subject to election at the primary and general elections in 2014.  The successful candidate in the 2014 election will serve for a full six-year term.

Sponsored by: