Karen Whatley, a top adviser in former Gov. Asa Hutchinson's administration now serving as a Sixth Judicial Circuit judge by his appointment, on Wednesday announced she will run to replace outgoing Circuit Judge Chip Welch in next year's judicial election.
"Each day I preside over a busy criminal docket, and I see firsthand the importance of protecting victims and administering swift, fair justice," Whatley stated in her announcement. "We can be proud of our justice system, and I credit the many hardworking professionals in our law enforcement and people who assist in our alternative-to-jail programs such as Drug Court."
Whatley, 53, was Hutchinson's director of Legislative and Agency Affairs from August 2018 to October 2021 before becoming the two-term Republican's chief legal counsel. Prior to that, Hutchinson had appointed Whatley to the State Medical Board in August 2016 as its executive director, where she served two years.
In January 2022, Hutchinson chose Whatley to replace Barry Sims as Sixth Circuit judge covering Perry and Pulaski counties when Sims retired from the bench. She is one of the circuit's three judges with a full-time criminal caseload.
Whatley will hold that post until Sims' term ends next year and his successor is chosen in the next judicial election, which runs simultaneously with the March 2023 political primaries.
So far, only one candidate, Little Rock District Judge Melanie Martin, has stepped forward to run for Sims' former post. As an appointee to the bench, Whatley is barred by law from seeking Sims' seat although she is eligible to run for any other open judgeship in the circuit.
Whatley is the first candidate to announce for Welch's seat. He's retiring from the Circuit Court due to a provision in the law that requires circuit judges and above to choose between their retirement benefits and public service if they want to hold one of those judicial positions after turning 70.
Welch, 72, is now seeking the Pulaski County District judge post being vacated by the retiring Wayne Gruber. District judges are not affected by the age prohibition like circuit judges, appeals judges and Supreme Court justices.
Since Whatley's judicial appointment, the Arkansas Supreme Court selected her to be the Sixth Circuit's administrative judge. She has also served the high court as a special justice.
Whatley spent almost 14 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas, with her most notable cases including the 2010 prosecution of Dr. Randeep Mann of Russellville for orchestrating the February 2009 bombing at the the West Memphis home of Dr. Trent Pierce, the Arkansas State Medical Board chairman.
It was an attack authorities labeled as revenge for board-imposed sanctions on Mann for over-prescribing narcotic medication to several patients who died from overdoses. Convicted after a five-week trial, Mann, now 64, received a life sentence.
As a federal prosecutor, Whatley also developed a reputation for deciphering complex financial crimes, with her efforts convincing Kevin Harold Lewis, a former Little Rock lawyer, to plead guilty in 2011 to defrauding nine banks in Arkansas, causing one to collapse. The case was said to be one of the largest, if not the largest, fraud case in Arkansas history. Lewis was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $39.5 million in restitution.
Her 2012 prosecution of Debra Shannon, who had been the chief financial officer at the Black River Area Development Corp. in Pocahontas for 37 years resulted in Shannon pleading guilty to embezzling and receiving a 30-month sentence with $426,151 in restitution.
Following her tenure as prosecutor, Whatley moved into private practice in October 2012, joining the Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard law firm in Little Rock for four years where she became a partner. Whatley, a married mother of three, began her legal career in April 1995 working for Little Rock attorney Jack Lassiter.