CHEYENNE — Three people are being considered for an upcoming vacancy as one of Sweetwater County’s district court judges prepares to step down.
Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden, who serves as chairman of the Judicial Nominating Commission, announced last week the commission submitted three names to Gov. Mark Gordon as candidates for an upcoming vacancy in the district court. The nominees are Jessica Frint, Jason Petri, and Clark Stith.
Frint is a prosecuting attorney in the Wyoming Attorney General’s Tort Division, Petri is currently the Green River Municipal Court judge and maintains a part-time law practice in Rock Springs. He previously worked in the Sweetwater County Attorney’s Office until 2006 and was later elected as the Wyoming State Bar’s Third Judicial District Commissioner. Stith has been a longtime attorney in Rock Springs and had a political career that included being elected to the Rock Springs City Council and later being appointed to serve in the Wyoming Legislature as the Representative of House District 48, becoming House Speaker Pro Tempore during his tenure.
District Court Judge Richard Lavery will step down from his position April 18 due to statutory retirement. Jacob Just, the communications director for the Wyoming Judicial Branch, said Wyoming’s circuit court and district court judges are required to step down when they turn 70. He said the chosen nominee will be sworn in the same day Lavery steps down.
Gordon has 30 days from Feb. 2 to appoint one of the nominees. Lavery has served as a district court judge in Green River since being appointed by former governor Matt Mead to succeed Jere A. Ryckman in 2012. He was retained by voters in 2020. Lavery received a 91.7% favorable rating in the Wyoming Bar Association’s 2020 Judicial Advisory Poll, which is based on surveys completed by bar association members. A 2024 judicial performance assessment of Lavery resulted him being scored as above adequate in all of the measured areas across four main categories, which consists of case management, demeanor, diligence, and the application and knowledge of the law.
