Idaho Court of Appeals

The Idaho Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Idaho. The court was created by statute by the Idaho Legislature[1] and began operations in 1982.[2]

Jurisdiction

The Court of Appeals hears cases assigned to it by the Idaho Supreme Court. The only exceptions to this jurisdiction are capital murder convictions and appeals from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and the Idaho Industrial Commission (which administers the state's workers' compensation laws[3]), which must be heard by the Supreme Court.[4]

Judges

The Court of Appeals includes four judges. Cases are heard by three-judge panels.

Position	Name	Appt. by	Took office / Length of service	Term expires	Education, prior positions
Chief Judge	David W. Gratton	Butch Otter	January 5, 2009 12 years	January 2019	BSU (1982); University of Idaho College of Law (1985); intern law clerk for Judge J. Blaine Anderson, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (1984); law clerk for Judge Harold Ryan (1985–87); private practice at Evans Keane (1987–2009).
Associate Judge	Sergio A. Gutierrez	Dirk Kempthorne	January 16, 2002 19 years	January 2021	BSU (1980); UC Hastings College of Law (1983); Idaho Legal Aide Services (1983–90); private practice at Park, Costello & Burkett (1990–91); solo practitioner (1991–93); District Judge in Canyon County, Idaho 3rd Judicial District (1993–2002).
Associate Judge	Molly J. Huskey	Butch Otter	July 2, 2015 5 years, 6 months	January 2023	Idaho (1989), University of Idaho College of Law (1993); deputy public defender and deputy prosecutor for Bonneville County; State Appellate Public Defender (2002–11); District Judge in Canyon County, Idaho 3rd Judicial District (2011–15).
Associate Judge	Jessica M. Lorello	Butch Otter	October 3, 2017 3 years, 3 months	January 2019	UNC Greensboro; UNC (1996); University of North Carolina School of Law (2002); private practice at Givens Pursley (2002–04); Appellate Unit in the Criminal Division at the Idaho Attorney General's Office (2004–17).

Succession of seats

Seat 1

Name	Appointer	Term
Jesse Walters	John Evans	1/4/1982–9/2/1997
Alan Schwartzman	Phil Batt	10/2/1997–1/15/2002
Sergio Gutierrez	Dirk Kempthorne	1/16/2002–present

Seat 2

Name	Appointer	Term
Donald Burnett	John Evans	1/4/1982–1/16/1990
Cathy Silak	Cecil Andrus	9/1/1990–2/25/1993
Karen Lansing	Cecil Andrus	6/7/1993–6/30/2015
Molly Huskey	Butch Otter	7/2/2015–present

Seat 3

Name	Appointer	Term
Roger Swanstrom	John Evans	1/4/1982–1/31/1993
Darrel Perry	Cecil Andrus	8/6/1993–9/29/2009
John Melanson	Butch Otter	9/30/2009–
Jessica Lorello	Butch Otter	October 2017–present

Seat 4

Name	Appointer	Term
David Gratton	Butch Otter	1/5/2009–present

References

1. "Idaho Code, Title 1, Chapter 24". Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
2. Idaho Code § 1-2404
3. Homepage of the Idaho Industrial Commission
4. Idaho Code § 1-2406

External links

• Guide to Idaho's judicial structure from the Idaho State Judiciary website