Replacement recommendation on federal judgeship expected

YOUNGSTOWN — A judicial advisory committee is expected to recommend a replacement for U.S. District Court Judge Peter C. Economus early next month.

The committee received 21 applications for the job, according to Meghan Dubyak, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. The committee will conduct interviews over the next few weeks, Dubyak said.

The senator’s office won’t release the names of the applicants for the judicial job because the candidates were promised privacy.

The Vindicator has learned that the following are among the 21 applicants:

• Judge Gene Donofrio of the Youngstown-based 7th District Court of Appeals.

• Judge Cynthia Rice of the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals.

• Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

• Robert Shaker, who has a private practice in Niles and for the past 15 years has served as an acting judge.

• Martin Hume, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor who has a private practice.

• Raymond Ku, a Case Western Reserve University School of Law professor and co-director of its Center for Law, Technology and the Arts.

Economus will move from being an active judge to being a senior judge, effective July 3.

Senior judges typically handle about 15 percent of an active judge’s annual caseload while earning the same annual $174,000 salary.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com