Finalists chosen for Shoshone Magistrate seat
Oxendine
WALLACE — Four candidates have been named to fill the position of Shoshone County Magistrate for Idaho’s First Judicial District.
Keisha Oxendine, Luke Hagelberg, Douglas Pierce and Lee Fisher were all announced following a closed door meeting of the Magistrate Commission last week at the Shoshone County Courthouse.
The candidates are vying for the position that was created following Judge Barbara Duggan’s appointment to the Shoshone County District Court bench.
Fisher is a prosecutor for Elmore County in southern Idaho and has been practicing law for 21 years in the Mountain Home area.
Hagelberg is the Chief Deputy Public Defender for Bonner County and has been licensed to practice law in Idaho since 2013.
Pierce, a lawyer from Coeur d’Alene, has been practicing law since 2002.
Oxendine is the current Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney and has been practicing law since earning her degree in 2007. She was first elected to her position in 2012.
Magistrate judges can hear a wide array of cases and case types.
They have jurisdiction to hear infractions, misdemeanors, felony preliminary hearings, probates, guardianships, conservatorships, divorces, adoptions, termination of parental rights cases, habeas corpus cases, juvenile cases, and civil cases in which the amount of money in dispute does not exceed $10,000.
Magistrate duties include issuing various types of processes such as arrest warrants, summonses, search warrants, emergency protective orders, emergency custody orders and certain civil warrants.
Magistrates also conduct bail hearings in instances in which an individual is arrested to determine under what conditions the arrestee should be released from custody prior to trial. Magistrates provide services on an around-the-clock basis, conducting hearings in person or through the use of videoconferencing systems.
Each of the four candidates will be interviewed this week on Friday, Feb. 4, at Shoshone County Courthouse beginning at 10 a.m.
While the interviews will be open to the public, the Magistrate Commission will deliberate privately immediately following the interviews.