Judge Robert G. Johnson to be formally sworn in as Court of Appeals judge May 8 in Lexington

Media and public invited to ceremony

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 5, 2017) – Judge Robert G. Johnson of Georgetown will be formally sworn in as a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge Monday, May 8, at an investiture ceremony in Lexington. The media and public are invited to attend. The ceremony will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Robert F. Stephens Circuit Courthouse in Courtroom I on the fourth floor. The courthouse is located at 120 N. Limestone St.

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Joy A. Kramer will preside over the investiture and Justice Laurance B. VanMeter, who Judge Johnson succeeds on the Court of Appeals, will perform the ceremonial swearing-in.

Judge Johnson officially took the oath of office in March after being appointed by Gov. Matt Bevin to fill the vacancy in Division 1 of the 5th Appellate District that resulted from Justice VanMeter being elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The 5th Appellate District is made up of Anderson, Bourbon, Boyle, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Mercer, Scott and Woodford counties.

Kentucky Court of Appeals
The Kentucky Court of Appeals, along with the Supreme Court of Kentucky, was formed after the 1975 enactment of the Judicial Article that created Kentucky’s unified court system. Fourteen judges, two elected from each of the seven appellate districts, serve on the Court of Appeals for terms of eight years.

Nearly all cases heard by the Court of Appeals come to it on appeal from a lower court. If a case is tried in Circuit Court or District Court and the losing parties involved are not satisfied with the outcome, they may ask for a higher court to review the correctness of the trial court’s decisions. Some cases, such as criminal case acquittals and divorces, may not be appealed. In a divorce case, however, child custody and property rights decisions may be appealed. With a few exceptions, most cases appealed from Circuit Court go to the Court of Appeals. The case is not retried at the appeals level. Instead, the original trial record is reviewed, with attorneys presenting the legal issues to the court for a decision.

Court of Appeals judges are divided into panels of three to review and decide cases, with the majority deciding the outcome. The panels do not sit permanently in one location, but travel throughout the state to hear appeals. When the Court of Appeals publishes its rulings on cases, those rulings become the governing case law for all such similar cases in the trial courts of Kentucky.

Administrative Office of the Courts
The Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort is the operations arm for the state court system. The AOC supports the activities of nearly 3,400 court system employees and 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. As the fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC executes the Judicial Branch budget.