Gov. Robert Bentley is weighing three finalists to fill a vacant Mobile County District Court judge seat, following a selection process that narrowed a field of 16 applicants down to a short list submitted by the Mobile County Judicial Commission.
The commission forwarded the names of Edward Carter Blount Jr., Jill Parrish Phillips and Derrick Vincent Williams for consideration. Bentley has 90 days from the recommendation to make his appointment to the bench.
The seat opened after former Mobile County District Judge Jay York moved up to a Circuit Court judgeship, filling the position vacated when Judge Joseph “Rusty” Johnston retired earlier this year.
Of the three finalists, Phillips arguably has the most visible public profile as a longtime Mobile County prosecutor. She serves on the office’s “murder team,” handling major violent crime cases, and was named the state’s top assistant district attorney last year by the Alabama District Attorneys’ Investigators Association.
Blount, a Mobile attorney since 1997, has previously sought judicial appointments, including an unsuccessful 2013 bid for a different Mobile County District Court seat. He has served as the county’s drug court magistrate for roughly a decade, a role that involves guiding defendants through treatment programs and determining consequences when participants fail to comply with program rules.
Williams currently serves as an assistant city attorney for the City of Mobile, where he helped establish a theft rehabilitation program within the Mobile Municipal Court that connects defendants with social services and educational resources. A 2007 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, Williams handles a broad range of criminal cases for the city, including domestic violence, drug offenses and DUIs. He was also recently named a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama and teaches as an adjunct professor at both Faulkner University and the University of South Alabama.
The governor’s eventual pick will oversee a docket covering misdemeanor criminal cases, traffic offenses and preliminary hearings for more serious felony matters within Mobile County, a role that touches thousands of residents’ interactions with the court system each year.
No timeline has been announced for when Bentley intends to name his selection, though state law requires a decision within the 90-day window following the commission’s recommendation. Mobile County court officials say the current docket is being managed by other sitting judges in the interim.