Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994                   TAG: 9403120156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE COUNTY PROSECUTOR NAMED GENERAL DISTRICT JUDGE

Bill Broadhurst was appointed by the General Assembly to fill a position opened by the retirement of Judge Edward Kidd.

Two other judgeships in the Roanoke Valley's 23rd Judicial Circuit - in Circuit Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court - are expected to be filled today, the last day of the session.

Broadhurst, 39, had been endorsed for the job by the Roanoke Bar Association and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.

"I'm gratified for all the confidence everyone had in me, and hopeful that I can live up to it," Broadhurst said Friday.

He is expected to begin hearing cases in Roanoke General District Court on July 16, the day after Kidd's last day on the bench.

Broadhurst has served as an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke County for seven years. Before that, he worked in private practice, as an assistant public defender in Roanoke and as a Virginia Supreme Court law clerk.

Vincent Lilley, a Salem attorney, was backed by the Roanoke County-Salem Bar Association for the judgeship that went to Broadhurst.

But Lilley still could become a judge this year, replacing either Julian Raney or Richard Pattisall - two General District Court judges who were nominated by the bar groups for the Circuit Court judgeship that may be filled today.

Joseph Bounds, a Roanoke attorney, was nominated for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court by the Roanoke bar group. He had faced opposition from Broadhurst, who was endorsed by the county group, but saw it disappear Friday with Broadhurst's appointment to General District Court.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994