Susan Wiebe and Robert Naftz have been appointed as District Judges. Wiebe succeeds Stephen Drescher in the Third District and Naftz succeeds Peter McDermott (see 4/21/09 SCOIDBlog "Judge McDermott Tapes Mentally Ill Defendant's Mouth Shut?") in the Sixth.
Wiebe is the daughter of Criminal Defense demi-god Klaus Wiebe and a fine lawyer in her own right.
Naftz is rumored to have practiced a bit of criminal defense in the day, although you won't see that mentioned by the Governor's Press Office. In fact, Naftz won the case which held that mandatory minimum sentencing statutes violated the state constitution. State v. Sarabia, 125 Idaho 815, 875 P.2d 227 (1994) superseded by statute as stated in State v. Puetz, 129 Idaho 842, 934 P.2d 15 (1997). (Oh yes, I remember that brief shining moment of sanity in sentencing law. It seems so long ago now.)
Congratulations to both.
The Governor's press release is here: http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/press/pr2009/prsep09/pr_061.html
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I've been in front of Naftz many times, and was very rarely displeased with his rulings - I'm not saying I got my way often, but he was always rational and reasoned in his decisions, and I did win a few close ones in my time there. IMHO, He's a fine replacement for McDermott.
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