FRANKFORT, Ky. – Court of Appeals Judge J. Christopher McNeill is the new deputy chief judge of the Court of Appeals.
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Larry E. Thompson appointed Judge McNeill, who will begin serving in the role Jan. 1, 2025. The deputy chief judge provides administrative oversight to the Court of Appeals in the chief judge’s absence.
“Judge McNeill has demonstrated the leadership, knowledge and professionalism needed to serve as deputy chief Judge of the court,” said Judge Thompson, who has served with Judge McNeill for more than four years.
McNeill succeeds Deputy Chief Judge Pamela R. Goodwine, who was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November and will begin serving in January.
“I am honored and humbled to serve as deputy chief judge,” Judge McNeill said. “I look forward to continuing in service to the citizens of our commonwealth.”
Judge McNeill of Western Kentucky was elected from the 1st Appellate District and took office in May 2020 to fill an unexpired term on the Court of Appeals and was reelected for a full eight-year term in November 2022.
Judge McNeill serves the 1st Division of the 1st Appellate District. The district is made up of 23 Western Kentucky counties: Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Graves, Henderson, Hickman, Hopkins, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Muhlenberg, Todd, Trigg, Union and Webster.
Before serving as a Court of Appeals judge, Judge McNeill worked in private civil practice and was a staff attorney for the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He later became a directing attorney for the Public Defender’s Office in McCracken County, overseeing more than 70,000 cases across Western Kentucky.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture and organizational communication from Murray State. He completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993 and later received his juris doctor from the Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law.
He and his wife reside in Paducah and have two sons.
Court of Appeals
Nearly all cases heard by the Kentucky 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 decision. 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. Cases are not retried in the Court of Appeals. Only the record of the original court trial is reviewed, with attorneys presenting the legal issues to the court for a decision.
Fourteen judges, two elected from seven appellate court districts, serve on the Court of Appeals for eight-year terms. The judges are divided into panels of three to review and decide cases, with the majority determining the decision. The panels do not sit permanently in one location but travel throughout the state to hear cases.
Administrative Office of the Courts
The AOC in Frankfort is the operations arm of the state court system. The AOC supports the activities of nearly 3,300 court system employees and 412 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. As the fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC executes the Judicial Branch budget.
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