On Friday, March 29, the Cottonwood City Council announced in a press release that Catherine Kelley had been selected as magistrate judge for the city of Cottonwood for a two-year term starting April 14. At a meeting on Tuesday, April 2, the council voted to approve Kelley in the position.
Kelley is a graduate of University of Illinois and earned a juris doctorate from the Northwestern College of Law at Lewis and Clark College. She is currently employed as a deputy prosecutor for the Yavapai-Apache Nation court, a pro tem Superior Court judge and pro tem Justice of the Peace for the Yavapai County Superior Court and presiding magistrate for the town of Dewey-Humboldt. Kelley told the council she intends to leave her position at the Yavapai-Apache Nation court in order to take on the position in Cottonwood.
“I’m pleased to have Judge Kelley joining the team at our court. She impressed council with her experience, her long history of working in Yavapai County and her knowledge of our community and its needs,” Mayor Tim Elinski wrote in a statement. “I believe she is the right fit to build on the successes of our former magistrate. We were fortunate to have so many qualified applicants. Judge Kelley should feel proud to have risen to the top of our list and I look forward to working with her in her new role representing Cottonwood.”
“I see the court as a vital, interconnected part of our democratic process, which makes independent and impartial deci- sions on cases, yet functions very much as a part of a community, which includes the legislative and executive spheres of government, citizens of the community and persons involved with cases within our court’s jurisdiction,” Kelley wrote in her application letter to the council.
“Relating appropriately with all of the persons who fit within that definition gives the court the credibility it needs to effectively fulfill its role in ensuring equal justice under the law. Having this judicial philosophy makes me a highly approach- able, positive judge who is willing to think outside the box regarding how to effectively accomplish the goals of the judicial system while considering the needs of parties, individuals, the community and the city.”
Kelley was one of five candidates interviewed by the Cottonwood City Council at a special meeting on March 26. Also interviewed were Gary Horton, a Yavapai County deputy public defender; Aaron LaSota, who has previously served as the magistrate judge for Cottonwood since 2009; Lewis Levin, a judge for Coconino County and Yavapai County Superior Courts; and William Lundy, a judge for the Verde Valley Justice Court, as well as for the town of Clarkdale.
The council asked each of the applicants the same series of seven questions: What role the magistrate judge has, what could be improved in the current court, what the council should expect from the applicant, their management style, how they would interact with the council and other courts in the area and why they sought the job.
In her interview, Kelley highlighted her view that the court must ensure everyone who walks into it feels like they are heard and able to argue their case fairly, even if the judge rules against them. She expressed a belief that interactions with the court could color individuals’view of the whole city and its government.
“Every person who walks into the court as a defendant is innocent until proven guilty,” Kelley said. “As citizens of your juris- diction, they deserve the same respectful treatment that everyone deserves. Every once in a while a case comes through where the defendant didn’t do it or, if they did, it was some- thing slightly different than what was represented by the police. And so once again my philosophy, which permeates the staff, is respect and listening. We’ll get the best out of the defendant, we’ll get the best out of the lawyers, we’ll get the best out of everybody.”
