A former state’s attorney from Brookings has been named the new magistrate judge for the Third Judicial Circuit, which includes Moody County.
Judge Abigail Howard began working in her new role late last month, and will preside over her second day in Moody County court today. Howard is in magistrate court in Flandreau every other Wednesday for initial hearings, bond hearings, small claims court and protection orders.
Howard, 31, was appointed to her position by the South Dakota Supreme Court. Previously, she was elected in 2016 as the Brookings County States Attorney.
Becoming a judge has been a life-long goal, Howard said. She didn’t expect the opportunity to come along as early as it did but felt that she should apply, she said.
“They don’t open up that often, and once they get filled, they stay filled for a long time,” she said.
Since graduating from law school seven years ago, the Volga native also has worked in a general practice at Fite, Pierce & Ronning Law Office in Brookings starting in 2011. In 2013, she joined the states attorney’s office in Brookings.
Being involved in legal cases from a broad perspective and a neutral standpoint is an appealing part of being a judge, she said.
“Helping insure there’s a fair and just outcome … Insuring the process runs fairly and constitutionally,” are important jobs of a judge, she said. “Being in that public service sector but just in that different capacity was something that appealed to me.”
Judges are seeing a growing number of drug cases, including an increase in the number of people charged with meth use, she said.
“Unfortunately, it just keeps imploding,” she said. “Often those are the serious felony offenses. We see people come in that are still high, still tweaking from this.”
Howard is one of two magistrate judges in the Third Circuit, which includes Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, Moody and Sanborn counties. She will split the duties with Magistrate Judge Patrick McCann of Watertown.
Howard is a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Brookings, the Eastern Plains Sexual Assault Response Team and is president of the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar Association. She and her husband, Lance, have a son, Truman.
