SHELBY — The city of Shelby has promoted Sheree Studer to a full-time position as Municipal Court Judge.
After serving as acting judge since April, Studer earned 3,429 votes (80.08 percent) to Gordon Eyster’s 853 votes (19.92 percent) to become Shelby’s next Municipal Court Judge, according to unofficial results from the Richland County Board of Elections.
“I’m so grateful that the community has chosen to put me in this position,” Studer said. “I’m blessed to have their support and their votes, and I’m proud to serve as the judge for this community.”
Studer’s opponent, Eyster, was charged on Oct. 11 with failure to control, no motorcycle license, no helmet, hit/skip (leaving an injury crash without exchanging information or waiting on police to arrive), and OVI – operating a vehicle while under the influence. The charges stem from a Sept. 22 motorcycle accident involving Eyster and one other vehicle.
Studer has served by appointment as a former magistrate of the Shelby Municipal Court since July 2014, and was recently promoted to acting judge in April of 2017. She has handled arraignments, initial appearances, preliminary hearings, and heard civil and criminal trials.
“It will be different because it will be on a daily basis instead of a few days here and there; it never gets to be your own so it’s like you’re re-learning the process every few months,” Studer said. “I’m looking forward to being there every day so I can work with it and build it into my own.”
Studer has been a practicing attorney since 2010 and has appeared in Shelby Municipal Court representing both plaintiffs and defendants in civil matters. She has also been a court-appointed attorney in the Shelby Municipal Court representing criminal defendants, and has handled personal injury, real estate, family law, probate, business law and other civil matters.
Studer has two main goals for the future of Shelby Municipal Court: integrating online access to court records, and growing Shelby’s new drug court program to help addicts with resources to find help.
“I realize it’s going to be a long process to get court records online and it will probably begin with the forms from our perspective,” Studer said. “It’s important for the public to be able to have access to records instantly.”
