Attorney Tish Chafin has dropped
out of the running to be the next Mingo
County
Chafin was one of a handful of
candidates to express interest to the Judicial Vacancy Advisory
Commission that will recommend possible replacements for disgraced former
circuit judge Michael Thornsbury to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
In a letter to the commission,
Chafin said there are a number of good candidates for the job and she’s decided
to focus on the two things she loves: her family and her job of practicing law.
Chafin ran unsuccessfully for state
Supreme Court last year. She’s the wife of Mingo County Senator Truman Chafin
who served as the Senate majority leader for years when Gov. Tomblin was Senate
president.
Other candidates for the job are
Robert H. Carlton, Jonathan Wayne Jewell, Steven Johnston Knopp, Teresa McCune,
Glen R. Rutledge II and Mingo Family Court Judge Miki Thompson. Interviews are
scheduled before the commission Dec. 16.
Thornsbury pleaded guilty last
month to a federal crime. The former judge violated the constitutional rights
of George White, a Mingo
County
White is scheduled to be in court
Friday as Senior Status Judge John Cummings considers a motion to set aside his
earlier guilty plea to a drug charge. The hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. in
Williamson.
