Gardner among finalists for appeals court

Judge Michael Gardner is among three finalists for a position on the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson will choose from among the three finalists to fill the court vacancy created by the August retirement of Judge Lisa Van Amburg.

Gardner, who serves on the bench in the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties, was one of 18 applicants for the judgeship.

An appellate judicial commission narrowed the list to three. Those names were submitted to Parson's office Wednesday, Missouri Supreme Court communications counsel Beth Riggert said in the news release.

In addition to Gardner, the finalists include Robin Ransom, presiding judge-elect of the 22nd Judicial Circuit in St. Louis and John Torbitzky, a partner in a St. Louis area law firm.

Contacted by the Southeast Missourian last month, Gardner declined to comment on his appeals court application.

Gardner was elected to a six-year term as circuit judge in November 2014. His term is set to expire Dec. 31, 2020.

He graduated with a law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2004. He clerked for Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. when Limbaugh served on the Missouri Supreme Court. Limbaugh is now a federal judge in Cape Girardeau.

Gardner was an attorney with the Cape Girardeau law firm of Osburn, Hine, Yates & Murphy before being elected a circuit judge.

Gardner replaced longtime Circuit Judge William Syler, who retired after 22 years on the bench.

The appellate judicial commission, chaired by Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Zel Fischer, conducted six hours of public interviews and deliberated for more than two hours to choose the finalists, Riggert said.

It took the commission five rounds of balloting to settle on the three candidates, according to the news release.

Gardner and Ransom were unanimous recommendations of the seven-member commission. Torbitzky received five votes, Riggert said.

The governor has 60 days to appoint one of the three finalists. Should he fail to do so, the state constitution directs the commission to make the appointment, the release said.

If chosen, Gardner would be the first state appeals court judge from Cape Girardeau County since the late Judge Stanley Grimm.

Grimm, a former circuit judge, served on the appeals court for the Eastern District from 1987 until his retirement in 1998. He died in 2012.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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