Three nominated for vacant Court of Appeals spot

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Judicial Nominating Commission announced Wednesday nominees to fill the judicial vacancy on the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

The vacancy is in the 6th Appellate District, Division 2, which is composed of the commonwealth’s 21 northernmost counties.

According to Chief Justice of Kentucky John D. Minton Jr., the three nominees for the judgeship are attorneys Susanne Mowery Cetrulo of Edgewood, Mary Kathleen (Kate) Molloy of Crescent Springs and Virginia Hamilton Snell of LaGrange.

Cetrulo is a founding partner of the law firm of Cetrulo, Mowery & Hicks. She has been in private practice for 30 years. She received her juris doctor from Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Molloy has served as a senior staff attorney for the Supreme Court of Kentucky for six years and was previously in private practice for more than 30 years. She received her juris doctor from Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Snell is a partner with the law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, where she has practiced for more than 30 years. She received her juris doctor from the University of Texas School of Law.

The judicial seat will become vacant when Court of Appeals Judge Joy A. Kramer retires Sept. 1.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals, along with the Supreme Court of Kentucky, was formed after the 1975 enactment of the Judicial Article that created Kentucky’s unified court system.

Fourteen judges, two elected from each of the seven appellate districts, serve on the Court of Appeals for terms of eight years.

Nearly all cases heard by the Court of Appeals come to it on appeal from a lower court.

If a case is tried in Circuit Court or District Court and the losing parties involved are not satisfied with the outcome, they may ask for a higher court to review the correctness of the trial court’s decisions.

Some cases, such as criminal case acquittals and divorces, may not be appealed. In a divorce case, however, child custody and property rights decisions may be appealed. With a few exceptions, most cases appealed from Circuit Court go to the Court of Appeals.

The case is not retried at the appeals level. Instead, the original trial record is reviewed, with attorneys presenting the legal issues to the court for a decision.

Court of Appeals judges are divided into panels of three to review and decide cases, with the majority deciding the outcome. The panels do not sit permanently in one location, but travel throughout the state to hear appeals.

When the Court of Appeals publishes its rulings on cases, those rulings become the governing case law for all such similar cases in the trial courts of Kentucky.