About Us
The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) was established by the legislature in 2008 to help you get to know your judges. Its goals are:
- To collect and disseminate valid information about each judge’s performance so that voters may make informed decisions about whether or not to retain that judge in office;
- To provide judges with useful feedback about their performance so that they may become better judges and to thereby improve the quality of the judiciary as a whole; and
- To promote public accountability of the judiciary while ensuring that the judiciary continues to operate as an independent branch of government.
Performance Evaluations
To accomplish these goals, the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission conducts multi-faceted evaluations of judges. As judges stand for retention elections, the Commission publishes the evaluation report and determines whether the judge meets or exceeds performance standards. The voters ultimately decide whether or not each judge will continue to serve in office.
For more detailed information on the performance evaluations, visit our Evaluation Process page.
Commission Membership
The Commission consists of 13 members. The Utah Supreme Court and the Governor each appoint four members; the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives each appoint two members; and the executive director of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice also serves on the Commission. No more than seven members may be attorneys. No more than half the members appointed by each branch of government may be of the same political party.
The current members of JPECÂ are:
   Gil A. Miller
Commission Chair
Citizen Member
Appointed by the Utah Senate
  Bridget K. Romano
Commission Vice-Chair
Attorney Member
Appointed by the Governor
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   Mallory Bateman
Citizen Member
Appointed by the Governor
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   Christine M. Durham
Attorney Member (ret. Utah Supreme Court chief justice)
Appointed by the Supreme Court
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   Sherrie Hayashi
Attorney Member
Appointed by the Governor
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   Blair Hodson
Citizen Member
Appointed by the Supreme Court
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   Rick Hoffman
Citizen Member
Appointed by the Supreme Court
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   James C. Jenkins
Attorney Member
Appointed by the Senate
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   Curtis M. Jensen Â
Attorney Member
Appointed by the House of Representatives
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   David J. Jordan
Attorney Member
Appointed by the Supreme Court
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   Sonya Martinez-Ortiz
Citizen Member
Appointed by the Governor
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   Tom Ross
Ex Officio Member
Executive Director of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice
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   Shannon Sebahar
Citizen Member
Appointed by the House of Representatives
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The current staff are:
Jennifer Yim – Executive DirectorÂ
Chris Russell – Evaluation Analyst
Madison Klein – Business Analyst
Jamie Nelson – Courtroom Observation Coordinator
Related Links / Information