Two people, both with experience on the judicial bench, have announced they will run for judgeships in Jefferson County’s 23rd Circuit in the August primary election.
Juli Hand, 62, of De Soto, the county’s current Municipal Court judge, said she will file for the Republican Party’s nomination for the vacant Division 2 seat, which had been held by Darrell Missey, who after 19 years of circuit court experience, resigned Dec. 29 to become director of the state’s Children’s Division.
Travis Partney, 41, of Imperial, currently the first assistant in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, has announced he will seek the Republican Party’s nomination for the Division 3 seat, currently held by Dianna Bartels.
Bartels is in the last year of her first six-year term.
Partney was appointed in 2016 by then-Gov. Jay Nixon to fill the Division 13 associate circuit judge vacancy. He lost the election for the final two years of the four-year term that same year to Katherine Hardy Senkel.
Circuit judges serve six-year terms and are paid $159,578 per year. Associate circuit judges, who serve four-year terms, are paid $146,812 a year.
Hand
Hand said she learned a new way of looking at the law by presiding over the county’s Municipal Court, which hears traffic offenses, code violations, animal control issues, peace disturbance cases and some criminal matters.
County Executive Dennis Gannon appointed Hand to fill the Municipal Court vacancy, and she started hearing cases in February 2019.
“What was amazing about transitioning to being a judge is that one day, I’m sitting in a courtroom being an advocate for my client and I’m thinking about the question I’m going to ask next or how I’m going to get this item into evidence,” she said.
“The next day, I’m sitting on the other side of the bench and I’m looking at a defendant and trying to figure out is this person telling me the truth or not. And yes – I can totally tell when someone’s honest and sincere and when they’re trying to put something over on me.”
Hand said she was approached about taking a run at the circuit judgeship.
“After receiving much encouragement from community leaders throughout Jefferson County, I have decided to put my hat in the ring for this race,” she said.
In addition to serving as the county’s Municipal Judge, which is considered a part-time position, Hand is a partner with the Kramer, Hand, Buchholz and Partney law firm in Hillsboro, which she and Alice Kramer established in 1999.
She said her practice, which includes divorce cases, has given her some ideas about how to make the circuit more efficient.
“For the most part, they’re doing a good job there,” she said. “COVID has definitely posed some problems, but the circuit has done a good job of working through them. But it shouldn’t take years to get a divorce in this county. That’s the biggest complaint I hear. There are different reasons for it, but I think we can make it more efficient.”
Hand proposes a fast-track mediator who can work with people on both sides of an issue to work out smaller details before they appear before a judge, particularly in family law cases.
“This county mediator would get both sides together in a room for an hour to discuss things like custody issues,” she said. “A lot of times those issues, sometimes just a temporary thing, can be hammered out. If it’s not settled in an hour, then they can go before a judge.”
Hand and her husband, Larry, have three children and two grandchildren.
Partney
Partney said he gained vital experience from his brief time on the bench.
“I feel very fortunate that I was given that opportunity,” he said. “I learned a lot from my appointment.”
A Hillsboro High School graduate, Partney started working as an assistant prosecutor in the county in 2008 before Nixon chose him for the Division 13 vacancy.
“I was fortunate enough to be appointed to the bench at an early age,” Partney said. “It was a good decision to decide to accept the appointment, and as the first assistant in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, I can see from the other side how important it is when judges show up and what happens when they don’t make good decisions.”
Partney said he doesn’t believe the incumbent, Bartels, necessarily fits that bill.
“I don’t want to go negative, but that’s my dilemma when approaching this election,” he said. “How do you point out there’s a problem? Government should work efficiently for the people. When it’s not doing that, there’s a problem.
“The current judge is primarily assigned traffic cases and municipal court cases and tax collection cases when that division should be officiating over murder cases,” he added. “The problem comes when the other divisions have to shoulder more of the tough cases, and it slows down the entire circuit’s docket.”
Bartels, who has not made an announcement about whether she will seek a second term, did not return a request for comment.
Partney said losing the 2016 election to Senkel was not devastating.
“I was 35 when I lost that election, but I never had a letdown. I knew I would live to fight another day,” he said.
Partney was hired by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office to serve as the Special Victims Unit supervisor and then became the chief trial assistant.
He then returned to Jefferson County to become first assistant under Prosecuting Attorney Trisha Stefanski. Those experiences since 2016, he said, have prepared him for a return to the bench.
“I’ve handled murder cases, domestic violence cases and first-degree child abuse cases,” he said. “I’ve worked a lot with the victims and survivors. I know the court rules of procedure, I’ve worked closely with law enforcement and I’ve never had a case overturned on appeal, which I’m proud of.”
In 2016, Partney ran on the Democratic ticket but said he plans to file for the Republican Party’s nomination.
“I was approached by and encouraged to run by members of the Republican Party,” he said. “They welcomed me, in part because of the job I did on the bench in 2016. I believe that half of the county’s current judges at one point ran as Democrats. This points out Jefferson County residents’ desire to be given a chance to vote for the person and his or her qualifications, not a party.”
He and his wife, Sarah, have two children, ages 8 and 6.
Filing for the August primary opens Feb. 22 and closes March 29.