CHARLESTON — Gov. Patrick Morrisey will have four names to consider appointing to succeed Tim Armstead, the late West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justice who passed away in August.

After conducting interviews earlier this week, the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission (JVAC) submitted four names Tuesday to Morrisey out of 12 applicants to fill the remaining term of Armstead.

The Governor’s Office confirmed the four names Wednesday following reporting by the West Virginia Record, a legal news organization.

The four names are Eric B. Hudnall, a staff attorney with the state Supreme Court; 27th Judicial Circuit Court Judge R. Steven Redding; Hardy County Prosecuting Attorney and former 21st Judicial Circuit judge Robert E. “Booter” Ryan; and Gerald M. Titus III., an attorney with the Spilman Thomas and Battle law firm based in Charleston.

∫ Hudnall joined the state Supreme Court as a staff attorney in 2019, working with former justices Armstead and John Hutchison. Hudnall drafted legal opinions, conducted legal research, and provided advice. Previously, Hudnall was an employee of the state Department of Transportation from 2014 to 2019, working his way up to a director position.

Hudnall has private law firm experience with Shuman, McCuskey and Slicer PLLC and Robinson and McElwee. He worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Kanawha County between 1999 and 2002. He also served a year as a judicial law clerk between 1998 and 1999.

– Redding was appointed to the 27th Judicial Circuit serving Berkeley and Morgan counties in 2018 by former governor Jim Justice. He was elected to the bench in 2018 and re-elected in 2024. A native of Maryland, Redding began his legal career in private practice in 1990 and later worked on the Hagerstown office of Franklin and Prokopik PC, taking four years off to recover from a car accident.

Beginning in 2011, Redding began part-time work as a guardian ad litem and returned to full-time attorney work in 2013 as a criminal defense attorney and representing the interests of children in abuse and neglect cases. He joined the Public Defender Corporation for the Eastern Panhandle in 2017.

– Ryan was appointed as Hardy County Prosecuting Attorney in April by the Hardy County Commission. Prior to that, Justice appointed Ryan to the 21st Judicial Circuit serving Grant, Mineral and Tucker counties in 2023. He did not seek election to the seat in 2024.

During his legal career, Ryan was a member of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, the West Virginia Association of Justice, the Defense Research Institute, the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, and multiple bar associations. Ryan has also been recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers and by Best Lawyers in America, being named as Lawyer of the Year in Railroad Law in 2019.

– Titus chairs the Commercial Trucking and Transportation Practice Group and the White Collar Criminal Defense Compliance Group for Spillman Thomas and Battle, where he has worked since 2009. He is a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia working in the Violent Crime Division. Titus began his legal career at Allen Guthrie McHugh and Thomas PLLC.

The JVAC is charged in State Code with assisting the governor with filling judicial vacancies. The JVAC has 90 days from the time of a judicial vacancy to meet and submit a list of between two and five qualified individuals to a governor, who then has 30 days to make an appointment based on the submitted candidates.

Morrisey’s pick will succeed Armstead and serve until a special election occurs next year. The winner of that special election will serve the remainder of Armstead’s 12-year term when the seat is up in 2032. Armstead, 60, died just before noon on Aug. 26 at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. He is survived by his wife Anna, his daughter Katie, and two grandchildren.

Armstead was appointed to the state Supreme Court by Justice in 2018. Armstead won election in a 2018 special election to continue to serve the remainder of the term of Menis Ketchum, who resigned in 2018 prior to pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in a federal investigation. Armstead won re-election to the Supreme Court in 2020 to a full 12-year term.