TOPEKA—Three district court judges today were nominated for appointment to the Kansas Court of Appeals to succeed Judge David S. Knudson, who has retired. They include Judges Stephen D. Hill, Paola, Patrick D. McAnany, Overland Park, and David L. Stutzman, Manhattan.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will have 60 days in which to make an appointment.
Judge Hill has been a district judge since 1981 and has been chief judge of the Sixth Judicial District since 1990. He is a 1972 graduate of the University of Kansas with a BS degree in English and a 1975 graduate of the Washburn University School of Law.
Immediately after graduation from law school, he practiced law in Mound City and was assistant Miami County Attorney in Paola. He was appointed Linn County Attorney and then was elected to the position in 1976. He regularly sits with the Court of Appeals and was nominated for appointment to that court in 2000.
Judge McAnany is currently the chief judge of the one-county 10th Judicial District, which consists of Johnson County. Born in Sweetwater, Texas, he was graduated from Rockhurst College with a B.A. in Philosophy in 1965. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law in 1968.
Judge McAnany practiced in the Kansas City firm of Miller & O'Laughlin from 1968 to 1969, when he left the firm to serve as assistant division attorney for the Mobile Oil Corporation in its Kansas City office. In 1973, he became a member of the McAnany, Van Cleave, & Phillips law firm in Kansas City, KS, and later was instrumental opening an office in Johnson County, where he practiced law until his appointment to the bench in 1995.
During his years on the District Court, Judge McAnany served as a judge on the juvenile docket and then as a judge on the civil docket, where he presently presides. He has been chief judge since 2000.
Judge Stutzman has been a district court judge since January 24, 1997, when he left the Manhattan law firm of Arthur, Green, Arthur and Condeman following nearly 15 years with that law office. Recently, the judge presided over the case of Kansas State University v. Morris Communications (WIBW) on broadcasting rights to KSU football. The judge entered an order in favor of WIBW's right to continue its solo broadcasts; however, within a week of the judgment, KSU and WIBW announced a complete settlement of all issues in the case, including abandonment of an appeal.
Judge Stutzman obtained a BS degree with merit from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and went on to serve in the Navy as the Repair Division Officer and Damage Control Assistant on the guided missile frigate USS Brooke. Following his discharge from the Navy, Judge Stutzman completed his law degree at the University of Kansas and was graduated fourth in his class in 1982.