Ivey names former challengers to Autauga district judge, sheriff seats

Marty Roney, Montgomery Advertiser
·1 min read
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PRATTVILLE — Gov. Kay Ivey has appointed a new Autauga County sheriff and Autauga County district judge.

Mark Harrell has been appointed to serve a full term as Autauga County sheriff. Twice-elected Sheriff Joe Sedinger won a third term in November, but he died in late December after a brief battle with cancer.
Mark Harrell has been appointed to serve a full term as Autauga County sheriff. Twice-elected Sheriff Joe Sedinger won a third term in November, but he died in late December after a brief battle with cancer.

Mark Harrell, a retired lieutenant with the Prattville Police Department, was appointed to the full term of Joe Sedinger, a Republican who was elected in November but died Dec. 26 after a brief battle with cancer. Sedinger's third term was set to begin Tuesday.

Harrell made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for sheriff in the primary. He came in second in a three-man race.

Ivey appointed Harrell to the full four-year term. Questions arose after Sedinger's death as to whether Ivey could appoint to a term that had not begun yet. The alternative would have been for the governor to call a special election. The governor's legal advisers told her that she could make the appointment.

Jessica Sanders, right, has been appointed to serve the remaining two years of Joy Pace Booth's term as district judge. Booth, left, won election in November as the Autauga County judge for the 19th Circuit and was sworn in Friday.
Jessica Sanders, right, has been appointed to serve the remaining two years of Joy Pace Booth's term as district judge. Booth, left, won election in November as the Autauga County judge for the 19th Circuit and was sworn in Friday.

Jessica Sanders has been appointed district judge, filling out the remaining two years in Joy Pace Booth's term. Booth won election in November as the Autauga County judge for the 19th Circuit. Booth, a Republican, was sworn in Friday and takes the bench as circuit judge on Tuesday.

Sanders serves as governmental affairs director for the Alabama Department of Education. She is a former prosecutor, serving as assistant district attorney under now retired 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randall Houston.

Booth defeated Sanders in the Republican primary election for circuit judge.

Both appointments are effective Monday.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Ivey names former challengers to Autauga district judge, sheriff seats