IDAHO FALLS — Bonneville County will have three new judges. Two will be new positions, and another will replace 7th Judicial District Judge Bruce Pickett.
Pickett retired from the bench on Jan. 10, and on Feb. 20, the Idaho Judicial Council submitted three names to Gov. Brad Little to replace him: Idaho Falls City Attorney Michael Kirkham, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Paskett and Magistrate Judge Brendon Taylor.
Bonneville County Trial Court Administrator Tammie Whyte told EastIdahoNews.com that Little will interview each candidate, and after that, he can decide who will fill Pickett’s spot. This process can take several months.
Whenever there is a vacancy for a magistrate judge within the 7th Judicial District, its magistrate commission will convene, interview candidates and decide on a candidate.
Both district and magistrate judges go through elections to retain their positions.
Whyte said the initial request to get more judges to help with an increase in cases within the 7th District happened in 2023.
According to Senate Bill 1029, which passed in the 2025 legislative session, over the past 10 years, the 7th District has seen an increase in its population by 22%.
It states that many of the district judges travel to help cover cases in other counties where they are not chambered. Specifically, in Bonneville County, four district judges, not chambered in the county, regularly travel to help in cases.
According to the bill, the 7th Judicial District has six district judges, and all have duties that take them out of the counties where they are chambered. Each judge spends more than 50 days on the road over the year.
“The 7th Judicial District’s significant population growth, along with the unique demands of this large district consisting of both small and large counties, necessitate that an additional district judge chambered in Bonneville County is needed to provide timely and fair access to the public and increase the efficient allocation of court resources,” the bill states.
Whyte said the new magistrate and district judge positions will help with the county’s increasing workload and will be housed here.
One area that Whyte said has seen an increase, since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, is in civil case filings, but criminal cases have seen a steady increase too.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in case filings, especially up and down the corridor that follows the interstate here,” Whyte said. “We try not to ask for judicial resources until we need them. But we’ve been tracking this for a couple of years, and it seemed clear that we needed to make a request.”
The new district judge position is accepting applications until May 1, and interviews will be conducted through the Idaho Judicial Council on June 10.
The magistrate judge position has not been listed, and Whyte anticipates it may be towards the end of summer when that opens up.
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