A sitting Harford County District Court judge and the Harford County state's attorney are among the 11 lawyers seeking to be appointed as the county's next Circuit Court judge.
District Court Judge Victor Butanis and State's Attorney Joe Cassilly have both submitted applications for the slot vacated by the retirement of Judge Thomas E. Marshall.
Marshall retired in January, but is hearing cases full-time until his successor is named. He also plans to hear cases on a part-time basis once his successor has been named.
Also seeking the judgeship are Hiram Edward Andrews III, Margaret Ada Attanasio, Melba Elizabeth Bowen, Michael Hugh Andrew Daney, Melissa Lazarich Lambert, Harold Scott Lewis, Kerwin Anthony Miller Sr,. Damon Arthur Pace and Diane Adkins Tobin.
Bowen, Lambert and Tobin are assistant state's attorneys under Cassilly; Tobin, who prosecutes child sex abuse cases for the Child Advocacy Center, and Lambert are in the circuit court division; Bowen is an assistant state's attorney and the supervisor in the district court division. Lewis is a deputy state's attorney.
Daney is the associate zoning hearing examiner for Harford County.
Andrews, Attanasio and Pace are each in private practices in Bel Air.
Miller is the deputy state's attorney in Cecil County and the chief homicide prosecutor, according to the Cecil County government website.
Cassilly is the state's longest serving county prosecutor, having held office since January 1983. He was elected to an eighth term last November and said shortly afterward he did not plan to run again when his current term ends in 2014.
Butanis has been a District Court judge since 1996. He served as the district administrative judge from 1996 until May 2010.
The Harford County Judicial Nominating Commission has 85 days to submit nominations to the governor. The commission consists of 13 members, nine appointed by the governor and four appointed by the Harford County Bar Association.
The commission will schedule interviews with the applicants then make its recommendations to Gov. Martin O'Malley, who does his own interviews before making an appointment.
"We're still kind of far out" from making an appointment, communications director for O'Malley, Raquel Guillory, said Wednesday.
Assuming the new judge is appointed this calendar year, he or she will have to stand for election to a full 15-year term in 2012.
The other sitting Harford circuit judges are William O. Carr, Stephen Waldron, Emory A. Plitt Jr. and Angela Eaves, who was appointed by O'Malley in 2008.