Two longtime Little Rock lawyers, both of whom have a history of public service, are vying in this month's judicial elections to succeed retiring Judge Wendell Griffen in the 6th Judicial Circuit of Pulaski and Perry counties.
The winner of the May 24 nonpartisan election will take office as the 5th Division judge on Jan. 1 and will be only the fourth person elected to the post. Early voting begins Monday. The ballot position is formally described as Circuit Judge, District 6, Division 5, Subdistrict 6.1.
Judges earn $180,129 annually and serve six-year terms. However, because of the nature of the position, created by the 1992 Hunt Decree, only a limited number of voters are eligible to cast ballots.
The position is one of five Hunt Decree judgeships -- out of 17 judgeships in the 6th Circuit -- where the only eligible voters live in 35 predominantly black precincts in the southern and eastern portions of Pulaski County. The county has 131 precincts. Perry County voters are not eligible.
For instance, the last Hunt Degree races in 2020 each drew about 12,200 voters while the other four races garnered from 54,656 to 69,134 voters
According to the Pulaski County Election Commission, eligible voters live in these precincts: 16, 36, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 73, 95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 109, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, and 131.
The federal Hunt Decree court order also controls four other judicial circuits, creating a total of 11 judgeships in 21 counties. Named for lead plaintiff Eugene Hunt, the order represents the 1992 settlement of a 1989 federal Voting Rights Act lawsuit intended to expand black representation in Arkansas' judiciary.
Elected in 2010 to the Little Rock-based circuit, Griffen, 69, is stepping down when his term ends at the end of 2022.
The candidates to replace him are LaTonya Austin Honorable, 46, whose campaign website is thehonorablechoice.com, and Ernest Sanders Jr. 56, who has www.formerjudgesanders.com.
"It's to serve the people with the experience that I have," Sanders said, describing his reason for seeking the judgeship. "The people of this district deserve a judge with judicial experience, judicial temperament and a proven record of fairness."
Honorable, a Little Rock native living in Sherwood, said she's dedicated her life and career to serving the community she has grown up in and raised a family, and becoming a judge is a natural outgrowth of her desire to serve the public.
"The biggest asset that I bring is the fact that I'm from here. I've always lived and invested in my community and I'm just a real person," she said. "I have a lot of personal experiences and professional experiences that allow me a unique perspective on what I can bring to the bench. That's the most important thing. People need someone who's relatable and can understand, someone who can make decisions that are fair and equitable to all people. My experiences have given me the tools I need to be able to do that effectively."
Active in the community, Honorable said she's already developed a relationship with many voters after having twice run for office in the past five years, vying for a 6th Circuit judgeship in 2020 and for Little Rock District judge in 2018. Honorable said she's finding new supporters as she campaigns for the 2022 election.
With more Arkansas women joining the bench at the state and local levels, Honorable said there seems to be a movement of voters recognizing the value that women have to offer as judges.
"I do think that [voters recognize] women -- and black women -- have a lot to offer in terms of judicial service. I certainly don't encourage people to vote for me simply because I'm a woman but coupled with [my] personal and professional experience I have is another experience that I have that Mr. Sanders does not."
A lawyer for 20 years, Honorable started as an assistant attorney general under Mark Pryor, specializing in criminal appeals. She next went to work for Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley as a deputy before crossing the aisle by working for the public defender's office and later the city of Little Rock.
In private practice, she runs her own law firm -- with the help of her office manager mom -- that focuses on family law, probate, civil litigation and criminal defense, practicing all over the state and in federal courts.
Honorable, a married mother of one, has further served as a neutral hearing officer, a quasi-judicial position, for the Pulaski County Housing Agency, hearing voucher appeals regarding eligibility and termination.
Acknowledging that Sanders has some practical experience as a circuit judge, Honorable said those management abilities do not necessarily translate into the qualities that make a good judge, the ability to listen to all sides fairly before making a decision.
"I don't think that makes him more qualified than anybody else," Honorable said. "Just because you've served in that capacity, it doesn't mean that now, 12 years later, you're still the best candidate for that position."
Sanders, a Crossett native, said he is the only candidate who has actually been a full-time circuit judge, serving as Griffin's predecessor in 5th Division, serving almost a year as circuit judge by appointment of then-Gov. Mike Beebe after the previous office-holder, Willard Proctor, was removed from office by judicial regulators.
During that 11 months in 2010, Sanders said he had to both conduct his judicial duties, presiding over trials, both civil and criminal, as well as make the rulings and decisions that are part of the job. But Sanders said he had to take over the part of the job overlooked by most, managing the courtroom, its budget and staff.
"I've been a special judge as well but I've actually sat in that seat day after day after day," he said. "I've appeared before the Quorum Court for budgets. All of that other stuff that comes with sitting on the bench."
The judgeship came with challenges, Sanders said, describing how he had to reinvigorate a staff dispirited and somewhat divided after watching Proctor go through the removal process while also having to undertake the task of re-organizing the court's probation department, which was monitoring about 1,300 defendants, one of only two such operations in the state.
But Sanders said he was able to succeed in both areas by being methodical and careful, qualities that make him the best candidate for the position.
"That's what I tell people now. Just because you're a judge, you don't know everything," Sanders said. "I take the time and research it. Sometimes you're going to get it right, sometimes you're going to get it wrong. But you just know within yourself that you made the decision that you thought was best."
Griffin's docket is now divided almost equally between civil litigation and criminal cases but there's no guarantee his successor will inherit the same caseload. Caseload and resources like courtrooms, chambers and office space are allocated by seniority, and are generally reworked after every election. Rookie judges generally don't have much of a say about where they will hold court or what subject matter they're assigned, and four of the newest judges were all assigned a family-law dominated caseload.
Honorable said she's ready for anything.
"My experience has been in general practice," she said. "My experience as a deputy prosecutor, deputy public defender, deputy city attorney, private attorney, plaintiff counsel and defense counsel and even sitting as a special judge makes me equipped to deal with any docket."
As a defense attorney and former prosecutor, Honorable said she's well-equipped for that caseload, although she is also just as experienced in domestic relations.
"I ... have a passion for family law," she said." A lot of the work I've done in the community has been in an effort to make families whole, to seek out services that benefit families because when our families are whole and our families are better then we as a community are better."
Sanders said he's prepared to take on whatever workload he's allotted, having spent the past 11 years diversifying his experience by practicing criminal law, family law and probate.
"I'm ready for anything, absolutely," he said.
But if he's asked, Sanders said he would prefer taking on criminal cases, noting that the covid-driven slowdowns have left the circuit with a large backlog of such cases. Reducing that caseload will be a priority for the circuit in the coming year because defendants and victims need to have their cases resolved expediently Sanders said, describing recently hearing the mother of a murder victim vent her frustration about how she's had to come to court for three years, yet her son's killer has yet to stand trial.
Coming up on his 30th anniversary as a lawyer, Sanders, a married father of two, got his start in 1992 with the Little Rock city attorney's office before moving to the 6th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney's Office to take a job as deputy prosecutor. In that position, he became the first African American to take on a management role in the prosecutor's office as division chief of the youth crimes division, while still continuing to try cases, ranging from misdemeanors to violent felonies, robbery and murder among them.
Sanders followed that up with an 11-year stint as a hearing examiner for the state Parole Board, a quasi-judicial role that involved him presiding over parole-revocation hearings across the state.
After finishing his tenure as circuit judge, Sanders opened his own general practice firm while also working as city attorney for Joiner in Mississippi County and teaching as an adjunct professor at the Bowen law school at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
Sanders, of Little Rock, has unsuccessfully run for office before, seeking a Little Rock district judgeship in 2008 and a Pulaski County circuit judge position in 2014.
According to the most recent campaign finance disclosure statements from the secretary of state, Sanders reports raising no money and spending no money while Austin Honorable reports that she's spent $40,611 with $20,855 in contributions.