Wendy Wood had a slight lead on Saline County District Judge Stephanie Casady Wednesday morning in the race for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Casady and Wood were vying for the seat being vacated by Judge Larry Vaught, who is retiring Dec. 31. The seat represents a district that covers Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties.
With an estimated 66.67% of votes counted, unofficial returns were:
Wood 38,008
Casady 37,882
Casady, 46, is the second-longest-serving district judge in Saline County and the first female state court judge elected in the county's history. She began her career in 2000 with the Office of Chief Counsel for the Arkansas Department of Human Services and later served as Saline County's deputy prosecuting attorney. In 2006, she entered private practice while serving as a court-appointed attorney for abused and neglected children.
Casady was elected district judge in 2012 and has served as president of the Arkansas District Judges Council. She said she wants to help restore confidence in the judiciary.
Casady said previously the role of a Court of Appeals judge is to take the facts and apply the law.
"Judges are not supposed to be result- or outcome-driven," she said. "They are supposed to take a case as it comes to them. We are not there to legislate, obviously. There might be laws that you do not love, but that isn't the judge's role, to ignore the law or interpret that law in a way that gets the outcome you want."
Wood, 52, has been a lawyer for 25 years. She was an attorney with the Barber Law Firm from 1996 until 2006, when she became a law clerk in the Court of Appeals.
"I was encouraged by Judge Vaught to consider running years ago," said Wood, who played professional basketball in Tokyo before becoming a lawyer.
Wood in her campaign has pointed to her basketball career. Formerly Wendy Scholtens, she was a standout basketball player at Fort Smith Southside and Vanderbilt University, earning All-American honors at both. Wood was inducted into the Vanderbilt Sports Hall of Fame, as well as the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Wood said the role of a Court of Appeals judge is "very defined."
"We review cases that come from the trial court or state agencies to determine whether there was an error below," she said. "The Court of Appeals judges do not retry the cases, they do not determine credibility of the witnesses, and they do not weigh the evidence. We read in the record what happened below, and we look up the law and apply the law to the facts, along with the appropriate standard of review, and determine if there was an error below."
Casady said her experience was an important part of her campaign because it's critical to elect judges to the appellate court who bring judicial experience.
"If you look at the makeup of the appellate court right now, what you are going to find is people who served as lower court judges before they were elected to the appellate court," she said. "It's my personal belief that in order to be an appellate judge you should bring judicial experience."
Wood said being a law clerk for Vaught was the exact type of experience needed for the position.
"I have worked there for over 15 years, and I understand firsthand how important these cases are that we work on," Wood said. "There are people with problems that come before our court fighting for their families, fighting for their property, fighting for their business, and in a lot of cases fighting for their freedom."
UNCONTESTED RACES
Three other judges also ran unopposed for seats on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Judge Ray Abramson was re-elected to District 1, Position 1. He was first elected in 2014.
Judge Kenneth Hixson was re-elected to District 3, Position 2, which he has held since 2015.
Judge Cindy Thyer was elected without opposition to the District 1, Position 2 seat. It will be Thyer's first term on the state Court of Appeals. She currently serves as a circuit judge in the Second Judicial District, which covers Craighead, Clay, Crittenden, Greene, Mississippi and Poinsett counties.
The 12-member Court of Appeals comprises judges from seven districts in the state, and they serve eight-year terms.