Snively Announces For Fayetteville District Judge

FAYETTEVILLE — Tim Snively, a lawyer and longtime resident, is the first to announce he’s running for district judge.

The position was held by Rudy Moore, who died April 11. Moore spent 22 years on the bench and was re-elected unopposed to a four-year term in May 2012. The election to fill his seat will be next May.

Snively, 48, said he will bring experience, a good judicial temperament and common sense to the bench.

“I understand people well,” Snively said. “Thousands of people walk in there and plead guilty without an attorney, and you have to sentence them immediately. You have to make quick decisions and make them right.”

Profile

Fayetteville District Court

Tim Snively

Age: 48

Residency: Fayetteville

Family: Married, Cristi Beaumont; three daughters.

Employment: Lawyer

Education: University of Arkansas School of Law, juris doctorate, 1997; Malone College, bachelors degree in management, 1993; Stark Technical College, associate degree Industrial Engineering, 1991.

Military Experience: None

Political Experience: None

Fayetteville District Court is one of the busiest in the state, handling more than 15,000 cases last year, and Moore ran it in an extremely efficient and professional manner, Snively said. He said one goal is to keep the systems in place that Moore established.

Snively said he has no plan to run for any other political office. He had planned to run for the position after Moore retired.

“I was never going to run against him, but I was planning to run in 2016,” Snively said. “Unfortunately, with Judge Moore’s untimely passing, it came sooner than anyone expected.”

Snively has been licensed to practice law in Arkansas for 16 years and has represented thousands of clients in criminal, civil and family law matters in state and federal courts. Snively has represented clients in criminal and civil cases in district court and occasionally filled in for Moore.

Snively is a former president of the Washington County Bar Association. While president, the group was named the outstanding bar association in the state by the Arkansas Bar Association.

Snively attended the University of Arkansas School of Law. He served as president of the student bar association and was a representative to the American Bar Association.

Snively is licensed to practice by the Arkansas and Texas Supreme Courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is also a barrister with the William B. Putman Inns of Court.

Snively has lived in Fayetteville for 19 years and is married to Washington County Circuit Judge Cristi Beaumont. They have three daughters.

Gov. Mike Beebe appointed David Stewart interim judge to replace Moore.

Stewart was director of the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, an independent agency that investigates complaints alleging misconduct or wrongdoing by any of the state’s 400 judges, until he retired earlier this year. The commission also handles disability matters involving judges.

Stewart’s appointment expires Dec. 31, 2014, when a newly elected judge will take over. Stewart is not eligible to run for the position according to state law.

The next Nonpartisan Judicial General Election is May 20, 2014. The judge selected in that election will finish Moore’s term and will be eligible to run for a full term in the 2016 election, according to Keith Caviness, a staff attorney with the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts, which oversees the state judicial system. The term for district judges is four years.

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