Three recommended for 1st District bench

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In Brief:

• Commission on judicial selection recommends three candidates.
• Vacancy created by retirement of Judge Caroline H. Lennon.
• Candidates are Cassandra Bautista, Christina Carolan, Zachary Lyngaas.
• Seat chambered in Shakopee, Scott County.

The Commission on Judicial Selection has announced that it is recommending three candidates for consideration to fill the vacancy in Minnesota’s 1st Judicial District. The vacancy occurred upon the retirement of Judge Caroline H. Lennon. This seat will be chambered in Shakopee in Scott County.

Cassandra Bautista: Cassandra Bautista is an attorney at Bautista Defense PLLC, where she represents clients facing criminal charges at all levels in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She also serves as a conciliation court referee in the 10th Judicial District. Bautista previously served as a prosecutor for several municipalities in Dakota County and as an immigration attorney, representing clients before Immigration Court and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Her community involvement includes serving as administrator of the Dakota County Criminal Defense Panel, a board member of the Dakota County Bar Association, and the immediate past president of the 1st District Bar Association. Bautista also serves as a member of the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training and the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department Auxiliary.

Christina Carolan: Christina Carolan is an assistant attorney general at the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, where she represents state agencies and employees at all stages of civil and appellate litigation. Her practice focuses on defending and enforcing Minnesota’s environmental and natural resource laws, as well as litigating civil rights cases. Carolan previously clerked for Judge Karen A. Janisch in the 4th Judicial District. Her community involvement includes co-chairing the Attorney General’s Anti-Discrimination Work Group, assisting the Attorney General’s Task Force for the Future of Minnesota’s Water, and volunteering for pro bono eviction expungement clinics. She previously co-chaired the Attorney General’s Pro Bono and Volunteer Committee, served as a school council member at Highland Catholic School, and coached her daughter’s volleyball team.

Zachary Lyngaas: Zachary Lyngaas is an assistant public defender in the 1st District Public Defender’s Office, where he represents adult and juvenile clients. He previously worked as an assistant county attorney in the McLeod County Attorney’s Office and as a judicial law clerk to Judge Shereen M. Askalani in the 4th Judicial District. Lyngaas is a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He currently serves as First Sergeant for A Troop, 1-94 Cavalry. Lyngaas’s volunteer activities include mentoring law students as part of the University of St. Thomas School of Law Mentor Externship Program and coaching youth T-ball and baseball.