Office of Gov. Dennis Daugaard

500 E. Capitol Ave.

Pierre, S.D. 57501

605-773-3212

www.sd.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Thursday, April 27, 2017

CONTACT:  Tony Venhuizen or Kelsey Pritchard at 605-773-3212

Gov. Daugaard Appoints Strawn As Fourth Circuit Judge

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today that he will appoint Magistrate Judge Eric J. Strawn as a circuit court judge in South Dakota’s Fourth Circuit Court.

“I thank Judge Strawn for accepting this appointment,” said Gov. Daugaard. “Judge Strawn is a highly-regarded magistrate judge with a true commitment to public service. He will be an excellent circuit judge.”

Strawn will fill a vacancy created by the recent retirement of Hon. Jerome A. Eckrich. The Fourth Circuit includes Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins and Ziebach counties.

“I am humbled and honored to be appointed to this position and look forward to serving the people of the Fourth Circuit and western South Dakota,” Judge Strawn said.

Strawn currently serves as a magistrate judge in the Fourth Circuit, a position he has held since 2013, and operates the circuit’s DUI Court. Prior to that service, he worked in private practice for eight years, working in both civil and criminal law. Strawn served as a special assistant attorney general for child support enforcement and as a child support referee. He has also served since 2006 as a member of the Fourth Circuit Mental Health Board.

Strawn is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1993 to 1997. Strawn is a 2001 graduate of Black Hills State University and a 2004 graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law. Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Hon. Warren G. Johnson, at the time the presiding judge in the Fourth Circuit.

He lives in Spearfish with his wife, Raquelle, and their children, Maquelle and Mickey.

-30-