ST. PAUL, MN - The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today that it is recommending five candidates for consideration to fill the vacancies in Minnesota’s First Judicial District. The vacancies will occur upon the retirement of the Honorable Janet L. Barke Cain and the Honorable Timothy J. McManus.?These seats will be chambered in Hastings in Dakota County.

Christopher Bates: Christopher Batesis the deputy director and chief general counsel of the Minnesota Cannabis Expungement Board. He previously served as an assistant county attorney for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, an assistant city attorney for the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office, and an assistant county attorney for the McLeod County Attorney’s Office. Bates’s community involvement includes serving on the board of directors for Mental Health Resources and volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club of the Twin Cities and as a mock trial judge with the Minnesota State Bar Association .

Mary Russell: Mary Russell is an assistant attorney general at the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, where she handles criminal prosecution and serves as a member of multiple anti-human trafficking task forces. She previously worked as an assistant county attorney for the Dakota County Attorney’s Office and as an assistant county attorney for the Kanabec County Attorney’s Office. Russell’s community involvement includes serving as a member of the Zero Abuse Project Advisory Board for Excellence in Child Exploitation Investigations and as a mock trial judge. She has also volunteered with organizations that assist victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

Matthew Schmidt: Matthew Schmidt is a partner at Ho & Schmidt, LLP and a part-time public defender in the First Judicial District Public Defender’s Office. He was previously a law clerk for the Honorable Joy D. Bartscher in Minnesota’s Second Judicial District. Schmidt’s community involvement includes being a member of the South St. Paul Lions Club, where he volunteers for elementary vision screenings and helps raise funds for local athletic teams and the K-9 police fund. He also volunteers with his sons’ sports teams.

Kelly Staples: Kelly Staples is a solo family law practitioner handling primarily dissolution, child custody, domestic abuse, and harassment cases. She also serves as court-appointed counsel in paternity, child support, and civil commitment matters and as a volunteer conciliation court referee in Dakota County. Staples’s community involvement includes serving as an executive board member for Legal Assistance of Dakota County and as a judge for high school mock trial. She is also a member of the board of directors at Momentum Dance Project.

Aaron Winter: Aaron Winter is a supervising attorney at the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, where he represents the Minnesota Department of Human Services in civil litigation and civil commitment proceedings. He previously served as an assistant attorney general in Tennessee, where he represented the state in criminal appeals and federal habeas litigation. Winter’s community involvement includes coaching soccer and flag football teams, judging high school mock trial, and coaching high schoolers in speech and debate.

For more information about the judicial selection process, please visit the Governor’s Judicial Appointments webpage .