DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the appointment of two district court judges – Justin Lightfoot and John Sandy – to fill vacancies created by retirements.
Lightfoot, 40, of Cedar Rapids, will replace Judge Patrick Grady in Judicial District 6. Lightfoot currently serves as the Criminal Division Chief of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa. He has been in the U.S. Attorney’s office since 2012. Lightfoot received his undergraduate degree from Iowa State University and his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law, with high distinction.
On March 3, the district’s judicial nominating committee forwarded Lightfoot and Valarie Clay of Marion to Reynolds. Clay serves as an assistant county attorney and juvenile prosecutor in Linn County,
Before serving with the U.S. Attorney’s office, Lightfoot served as an assistant county attorney in Linn County for two years and was also designated as a special assistant U.S. attorney. Before that, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Carol E. Jackson in the Eastern District of Missouri.
Judicial District 6 includes Benton, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Tama counties.
Read Lightfoot’s application below:
Sandy, 36, of Spirit Lake, will replace Judge David Lester in Judicial District 3A. He currently practices law with the Sandy Law Firm, P.C., in Spirit Lake and serves as a Minnesota Assistant Public Defender. Sandy received his undergraduate degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and his law degree from the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He also studied Latin at Pontificia Universitas Angelicus in Vatican City.
The district nominating commission submitted Sandy and Matthew T.E. Early, an attorney from Spirit Lake, to Reynolds on February 25.
Sandy worked at his law firm since 2010, becoming a partner in 2014. He has served as an assistant public defender since 2014 as well. Before working with his law firm, he was a law clerk for Colich & Associates in Minneapolis, Minn., and as a law clerk for the U.S. Federal Defender’s Office in Minneapolis.
Judicial District 3A includes Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, and Palo Alto counties.
Read Sandy’s application below:
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