Jefferson County’s 23rd Judicial Circuit Court has a new associate circuit judge.
Gov. Mike Parson’s office announced Jan. 3 that he had appointed Charlie Argana to fill the Div. 15 associate circuit judgeship left vacant following Wes Yates’ retirement on Dec. 31.
Yates, 66, of the Hillsboro area had served as the Jefferson County Div. 15 circuit judge since Feb. 2, 2023, when Parson appointed him to fill a vacancy after Shannon Dougherty was appointed to the Div. 6 slot created when Troy Cardona retired.
Before Yates was appointed to that Circuit Court judgeship, he served as the Jefferson County counselor – the top attorney in the county government – from 2011 to 2023, interrupted only by a two-year term (from 2017-2019) as the Circuit’s Div. 1 judge.
Argana, 32, of Festus said he was “shocked and amazed” when he got the call that he would be appointed to the judgeship. For the past five years, Argana worked as an assistant public defender with the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office in Hillsboro.
He will fill the remainder of Yates’ unexpired term, which will end Dec. 31, 2025, and said he plans to run for seat when it’s up for election this November.
“I’ve always thought I could do a lot of good in the role, and I’ve always been geared toward public service – I really get a lot of fulfillment and satisfaction from giving back to the community,” Argana said. “While I have a shorter legal career than I’m sure some of the other applicants have, I think what I’ve been doing – trial work, being in the courtroom, being a public defender – I hope the governor saw that that equips me for the job.”
Longtime public servant
Yates said it was the right time to retire because his wife, Bridget, retired from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 2024. The couple plans to move to Charleston, S.C., within the year to live closer to their daughter, Isabella.
Yates began his career in law in his hometown of Sedalia after managing two radio stations for 10 years. He practiced privately for a few years before working as an associate city counselor for St. Louis in 1996. He held the job until he was hired by then-County Executive Ken Waller in 2011 to become the county counselor.
Yates said his first case was a big one.
“In my very first case, I assisted on a murder trial,” he said. “Usually, you don’t start out that way, but I was in a small town and was actually working for my next-door neighbor, a solo practitioner, and he had a murder case that he picked up. I learned a lot.”
Transitioning to the much larger city of St. Louis, Yates said he learned quickly that “you never know what’s going to hit you when you walk in that door.”
Later, when he became a judge, each day continued to be exciting and interesting, Yates said.
“You’ll never ever be bored,” he said.
Yates said one notable case during his career in law came when a single mother approached him and asked for help defending her 3-year-old daughter, who was being sexually abused by another family member. The mother had been to several lawyers and was turned away due to the complexity of the case.
Years later, after Yates successfully removed the young girl from the abusive environment, the mother sent him a letter.
“(The mother) wrote to me saying the girl had graduated college, made something of herself, and she said I had saved the girl’s life,” Yates said. “I still have that letter.”
Another highlight of Yates’s career, during his 12 years as county counselor, was assisting county staff to develop a home rule, or charter, form of government. Voters approved the new form of government in 2008, and it took effect in 2011.
The new charter gave the county more autonomy from state rulings. Determining how to allocate that power responsibly proved to be a sizeable task, Yates said.
“It was difficult,” he said. “From a career perspective, it was very satisfying to help those government officials and the county executive and council, get them on that path.”
Yates said he has enjoyed his career, but it is time to move on.
“I loved being county counselor, and I loved being a judge,” he said. “I’ve been a public attorney for just a little over 30 years, and I’ve been a public servant either as a judge or attorney. I’d like to thank the citizens of Jefferson County and all the people I’ve worked with, especially (former county counselor) Dennis Kehm and (attorney) Derrick Good, who helped me more than anybody.
“There are some real hard-working people in the county offices.”
Yates said he plans to stay busy in his retirement, helping his daughter renovate a house in Charleston.
“We’ll have fun doing that together. As my grandmother used to say, it’ll keep me out of the bars,” Yates joked.
Yates said he was being paid approximately $159,000 when he retired, and under state statute, all associate circuit judges are paid the same salary. The salary is set annually in the state budget.
‘Eager to serve’
Born in Louisville, Colo., Argana spent most of his life in Festus. He graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School in 2011 and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in political science with a pre-law concentration from Quincy University in Quincy, Ill., in 2016 and a law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphrey’s School of Law in Memphis, Tenn., in 2019.
Argana said becoming a lawyer seemed a natural fit for him.
“Well, my mom will tell you that I liked to argue ever since I could open my mouth, so it was always something I was sort of aimed towards,” he said. “My uncle is a lawyer in Farmington, and during high school, I shadowed him for a week, and he took me to a trial in the Farmington courthouse, and I got to watch a criminal defense trial attorney do his work. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to get in front of people and advocate.’”
While in law school in Memphis, Argana worked in anti-blight litigation to rehabilitate neighborhoods where holding companies allowed viable properties to sit and decay.
As a public defender, Argana said he was in the courtroom daily, representing thousands of clients in evidentiary hearings and felony and misdemeanor jury bench trials.
“The value of a public defender is that we’re representing indigent people who would have no hope of having proper legal representation,” Argana said. “It’s a pretty scary situation to be in when the state is coming after you, even for a low-level felony, and the right to a competent attorney is, I think, one of the most important in the entire Constitution. So, the work is exciting, it’s stressful, it’s busy, it’s fulfilling. It’s a job I greatly enjoyed and valued a lot.”
Argana said as a judge he will advocate for more technological upgrades to the Jefferson County Courthouse, which was built in 1863, adding that a new Courthouse is greatly needed.
“I think a judge’s duty is to call balls and strikes, listen to cases and rule as fairly as possible,” Argana said. “It’s also a judge’s job to make sure the dockets run smoothly, and the cases are moving, and at the Jefferson County Courthouse, there have been some technical issues lately. A lot of courthouses across the state are very well equipped to do video hearings, for instance, and I think that’s something we struggle with.
“People don’t understand sometimes that the Courthouse is a pillar of a community, and it’s something that countians can be proud of.”
Argana and his wife of five years, Ashley, who was the event coordinator at Villa Antonio Winery for three years before becoming a full-time mother, have two sons, Charlie, 4, and Oliver, 5 months.
Argana said he looks forward to working for the good of the community he grew up in and spent most of his life.
Argana will be sworn in at noon Friday at the Courthouse.
“I’m honored to be appointed to this position,” he said. “I plan to be humble on the bench and listen to the attorneys and litigants who come before me, and I’m eager to serve the people of Jefferson County.”