For twenty-four years, Judge Spaulding served in Musselshell County having been preceded by Judge Rodeghiero. Being the youngest district judge ever elected at the time, he was thirty years old when he took the bench. Previous to that he had also been one of the youngest attorneys when he was hired as the county attorney for Musselshell County. In a similar transition, as Judge Spaulding retires, our current County Attorney Adam Larsen will be replacing him after the election. Adam is running unopposed for the position. Judge Spaulding is young for retirement, but with such an early start to his career, he is looking forward to enjoying a quiet and peaceful retirement with his wife Wanda. He will change his days from listening to legal issues, to hunting, fishing, and handcrafting furniture.
Judge Spaulding has seen many joys and many sorrows during his career. When he was transitioning to become Judge, but still a county attorney for Musselshell, the Montana Freemen were in action. "My wife Wanda was new to Sheriff's department; she was just three days on the job when all of that went down. There were black vans circling the court house. They (the Freemen) were coming in armed to the Clerk and Recorders office threatening and intimidating. No one knew exactly what was going to happen." It was a memorable time in Montana history, let alone for Musselshell County.
As the population has increased, so has the workload for the local Justice departments. People get the idea that crimes are happening, and nothing is being done. This is not true. In speaking with Adam and Judge Spaulding, I learned that they are not allowed to discuss any of those things due to the code of ethics that they must uphold. The Roundup Record will likely start reporting on some of the cases going through our local system after the new year, as we are able to view public records. "We (Musselshell County) are also an appellate court, so we get city court appeals, the justice court appeals, we get the administrative appeals from labor and industry, labor claims, where someone didn't get paid. These are all learning curves for the new judge. It takes about five years to become a fundamentally good judge, being familiar with all the different cases." says Spaulding.
Our local judge works for four counties, Golden, Musselshell, Wheatland, and Meagher. He also does out of district work for other judges. Outside judges are needed from time to time, some get substituted by attorneys, they get disqualified off of a case by attorneys, and judges also can recuse themselves if there is some sort of an issue, and an outside judge has to be brought in. This happens all the time, and so the cases are "traded" rather than tax payers having to pay for these issues. Adam Larsen will be inheriting all of this work.
Judges are non-partisan, and are not allowed to voice opinion or position, endorse or receive endorsements in elections. There is a code of ethics that they must follow. Rules of professional conduct. There are Cannons of Judicial Conduct specific to campaigns. To educate yourself as a voter about a particular judge, you can look up decisions from judges, and look at their rulings to do your homework on justice candidates.
"I feel a sense of responsibility to the electorate. I will not walk away and leave them in a lurch. If we do not get a decent candidate I will hang around. I will say with 100% confidence that Mr. Larsen is a more than decent candidate, and if I didn't believe so, I would be running again. I think he is fully capable intellectually and otherwise; I think he is a good man." Spaulding about Larson
"I swear the oath, assuming I am elected in November, January 6th. I am trying to observe all of the case types that I don't routinely do. I've practiced both criminal defense and prosecution as well as civil court, but there are a lot of divorce cases and probate cases that I've not had much interaction with." states Larsen. "Judge Spaulding is respected statewide, so his opinion means a lot to me."
"I am just grateful for the time that I've had, and the trust that the community has placed in me, I hope that I have not disappointed. I wish Adam the best in everything that comes. I am making myself available if Adam wants to call with questions.", says Spaulding.
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