Governors Pick Judges in Georgia, Rhode Island

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee nominated Carly Beauvais Iafrate and Family Court Magistrate Denise Cassisi Finkelman for Superior Court vacancies and selected District Court Judge Debra Sanders to become chief judge. Iafrate is a labor and employment attorney who has represented public employees, while Cassisi Finkelman previously practiced law and has served as a Family Court magistrate. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp appointed David Ranieri and Alex Shalishali to the State Court of Muscogee County, filling one vacancy caused by a judge’s resignation and another created by legislation. Ranieri is chief judge of Columbus’s Recorder’s Court and has experience as a prosecutor and civil litigator; Shalishali is a private-practice attorney who has also served as a magistrate judge. Kemp also appointed Judge Paul K. Cook to the Superior Court of the Middle Judicial Circuit.