Former DuPage County prosecutor Todd B. Tarter takes over Aurora Branch Court on Monday as part of the changes on the bench in the 16th Judicial Circuit.
Tarter, most recently a partner at Chilton Yambert Porter, is among a pair of new associate judges recently selected from a field of two dozen candidates to fill open positions created in May when the Illinois Supreme Court announced the appointment of two new circuit judges from the associate ranks. Tarter was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1986 after graduating from Thomas Cooley Law School. He received his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University.
Aurora-based attorney Keith A. Johnson was also appointed to an associate judge position beginning Sept. 1. Johnson, who has not yet been given an assignment, is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northern Illinois University Law School. He spent five years with the Kane County state’s attorney’s office until 2000 and joined his current firm — Speers, Reuland & Cibulskis — in 2006.
The associate spots opened up in May when the state Supreme Court elevated Judge Rene Cruz and Judge Clint Hull to circuit positions. Cruz began his new role July 11. He most recently oversaw cases in family court. Cruz became the circuit’s first Hispanic judge when named an associate in 2012.
Hull, a veteran criminal prosecutor who was appointed to the bench in 2009, presides over the county’s juvenile division and handles cases in treatment alternative court. His tenure as a circuit judge is scheduled to begin Sept. 1. Cruz and Hull have terms which run until December 2018, which means they will have to seek election to the bench in two years.
The series of moves was prompted by the retirements of longtime Circuit Judge Judith Brawka and Circuit Judge Thomas Mueller.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.