Governor nominates Harmond to serve on district court bench

By Sun Advocate

Gov. Jon Huntsman has nominated George W. Harmond Jr. of Helper to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Utah 7th District Court.
Harmond currently serves as a deputy in the Carbon County Attorney’s Office.
In October, the judicial nominating commission selected three potential candidates from the attorneys applying to replace Judge Bryce K. Bryner on the 7th District Court bench.
Judge Bryner’s decision to retire effective in mid-January 2006 created the vacancy on the district court.
The committee members interviewed applicants on Oct. 18 and selected three potential nominees to occupy the opening position on the district court bench.
The candidates selected by the judicial nominating panel included Harmond of Helper, private practice legal counsel Samuel Chiara of Price and deputy Emery County attorney Brent Langston of Ferron.
The Utah Administrative Office of the Courts conducted a 10-day comment period to accept citizen input in connection with the nominating process.
The public comment period concluded on Oct. 28 and the three attorneys identified by the committee were officially forwarded to the governor for consideration.
Pursuant to Utah statute, Huntsman had 30 days to interview the three candidates recommended by the judicial committee members and nominate one of the attorneys to assume the district court judgeship.
As the governor’s nominee to the district court bench, Harmond’s name will now be forwarded to the Utah Senate confirmation committee.
The confirmation committee will review the nominee’s qualifications, schedule a public hearing and conduct an interview session in connection with the matter.
After completing the statutory process, the legislative confirmation committee will forward the name of the final nominee for the judgeship to the Utah Senate.
The Utah Senate will then have 60 days from the date of the governor’s nomination of Harmond to confirm the candidate to fill the vacated 7th District Court judge position.
“George is an experienced, capable attorney who, if confirmed, will serve the state of Utah exceptionally well as a judge,” commented Huntsman on Monday.