Clallam plans swearing-in for newly appointed judge

Published 12:01 am Friday, January 11, 2013

FORKS — John H. Doherty of Beaver will be sworn in during a ceremony in the Clallam County District 2 Courtroom, 502 E. Division St., at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

A former Clallam County District Court judge in Port Angeles and the current Quileute Tribal Court judge in LaPush, Doherty was appointed by the Clallam County commissioners to serve the remainder of Erik Rohrer’s term on the bench of Clallam County District Court 2 in Forks.

Rohrer, who had presided over District Court 2 since 2001, was elected Superior Court judge in November, defeating county Hearing Examiner Chris Melly to replace longtime Superior Court Judge Ken Williams, who retired.

Doherty, 64, will serve Rohrer’s unexpired term through December 2014.

Rohrer will officiate over Thursday’s ceremony.

Doherty was a principal in the Clallam County law firm of Doherty & Ritchie from 1976 to 1995, when he was elected judge of the Clallam County District 1 Court in Port Angeles and served two terms.

He was subsequently appointed chief judge of the Quileute tribe in 2004.

Doherty was born and raised in Clallam County, graduating from Port Angeles High School in 1966.

He served on active duty in the Navy in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1969.

He received an associate degree from Peninsula College in 1970, a bachelor’s from Western Washington University in Bellingham in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1975, where he was a member of the Gonzaga Law Review.

He lives in Beaver with his wife, Becky, who is an optician with the optometry office of Hainstock-Braun.

County Commissioner Mike Doherty, who is John Doherty’s brother, disqualified himself from the interview process before his brother was named because of the conflict of interest. Bryon Monohon, the mayor of Forks, was appointed to fill in for Mike Doherty.