Posted by
Billy email MADBillyD@aol.com on Friday, January 09, 2009 10:16:58 PM
Nine weeks after voters relieved her of her duties, District Judge Kristine Cecava of Sidney continues to preside over cases in her western Nebraska district.
State court officials say the Nebraska Constitution provides that judges who are removed from office by voters can continue to serve until a replacement is chosen.
Although the governor appoints Nebraska judges, every six years their names go on the ballot for a vote on whether they should keep their jobs. In the Nov. 4 election, more than 52 percent of voters chose not to keep Cecava as a judge.
Her retention vote came two years after she made national headlines by giving a probation sentence, albeit with strict supervision, to a man convicted of sexual contact with child. Cecava had said she feared that the 5-foot-1, 100-pound man could not survive in prison because of his small stature.
Cecava is the eighth judge to be removed by voters since Nebraska adopted its judicial selection process in the early 1960s.
(This story from my home state tells me that leaders in Nebraska need to come up with a better and faster way to remove judges after the voters have voted them out. Read more of this story
Judge who was voted out is still on the job.)