Austin attorney Fred F.

Thursday, August 24, 2000

Austin attorney Fred F. Wellmann is among three finalists being considered for a Third Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in Mower County.

The other two are Keith Deike, a Waseca attorney, and Terrence Walters, a Rochester attorney.

The vacancy occurred with the death of Judge Michael H. Seibel on June 16. District Judge Donald E. Rysavy is the only sitting judge in Mower County. Other Third Judicial District judges have been temporarily reassigned to hear court matters in Mower County, during Seibel’s illness and declining health and since his death.

Seventeen applications were received by the Commission on Judicial Selection for the vacancy and 11 candidates were interviewed last Friday in Austin before the commission chose the three finalists.

Wellmann is an attorney with the Austin law firm of Hoversten, Johnson, Beckmann, Wellmann and Hovey, a position he has held since 1980.

Rysavy was an attorney with the same law firm, when he was appointed to the trial court bench.

Wellmann was Mower County attorney from 1978 to 1980, a prosecutor for Mower County and the city of Austin from 1975 to 1978 and an attorney with the law firm of Blaufuss and Wellmann in Marshall from 1974 to 1975.

He earned his juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1974 and his bachelor of science degree from Mankato State University in 1967.

Deike, an attorney with the Waseca law firm of Patton, Hoversten and Berg, has practiced law since 1983. He was a solo practitioner from 1983 until 1994 and also served as a part-time Third Judicial District public defender in Waseca from 1990 to 1996.

He was a prosecutor for the city of Waseca from 1991 to 1994.

Walters, an attorney with the Rochester law firm of Walters and Winterling, has been with the firm since 1989. He also was a partner in the Rochester law firms of Walters and McCaleb from 1985 to 1989 and Dingle, Suk, Wendland and Walters from 1979 to 1985 and was an assistant Rochester city attorney from 1976 to 1979.

The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the governor for district court vacancies. The commission consists of 15 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial districts.

The commission members consist of attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Gov. Jesse Ventura’s choice is expected sometime in the next four weeks.