4 October 2023
DULUTH Three finalists have been named to serve as the next judge at two North Shore courthouses.
Assistant Duluth City Attorney Steve Hanke, Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken and Grand Marais practitioner Tyson Smith were recommended by the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection.
The 6th Judicial District seat is vacant as Judge Michael Cuzzo retired Monday after nearly 13 years serving as lone judge in Lake and Cook counties.
Gov. Tim Walz is expected to pick a replacement in the coming weeks. He is not bound by the commission’s recommendations, but governors typically choose from the panel’s list.
Hanke handles a variety of civil issues for Duluth, along with prosecuting criminal offenses up to gross misdemeanors that occur in city limits. He is also an adjunct professor in the Human Behavior, Justice and Diversity Department at the University of WisconsinSuperior
In the community, Hanke volunteers as a high school mock judge for the Minnesota State Bar Association, as well as with the Duluth Area Family YMCA and the Duluth Amateur Hockey Association. He is president of the 11th District Bar Association and serves as a board member at the Damiano Center.
Hicken was first appointed as Cook County’s chief prosecutor and legal advisor in 2014, and has subsequently been elected to the post three times. In addition to prosecuting a handful of high-profile homicide cases, she helped establish the county’s first treatment court for drug and impaired driving offenses and serves on the advisory council for a local restorative justice program.
Outside the courtroom, Hicken is vice president of the board of directors for the Minnesota County Attorney’s Association and is a member of both the Rural Justice Collaborative and the Beyond Big Cities initiative of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution.
Smith is managing attorney at Smith Law, PLLC in Grand Marais, where as a general practitioner he takes on cases in most major legal areas. He previously was an associate attorney at Minneapolis-based Bernick Lifson, P.A., handling mostly civil litigation.
In the community, Smith volunteers as an emergency responder for Cook County Search and Rescue and is a member of the Grand Marais Lions Club.
The 6th District includes 16 judgeships at six courthouses across St. Louis, Carlton, Lake and Cook counties. But with the two North Shore counties having a combined population of roughly just 16,500, one position is split between the Two Harbors and Grand Marais courthouses. Judges must live within the district and appear on the ballot in all four counties.
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