One of these four candidates will be named RI's next Superior Court judge

PROVIDENCE – The state's Judicial Nominating Commission has voted to forward four names for consideration for the vacancy created by the retirement of Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel in August.

Those selected on Wednesday night by the commission, which helps vet and select the state’s judges, include Assistant Attorney General Joseph J. McBurney, Clerk of state Supreme Court Debra A.‎ Saunders, Assistant Attorney General Shannon G. Signore and District Court Judge Christopher K. Smith.

The position is a lifetime seat with a $170,545 base salary.

Assistant Attorney General Joseph J. McBurney

McBurney, who has worked at the state attorney general’s office since 2008, prosecutes some of the state’s highest profile gun cases in gun court before Superior Court Judges Robert D. Krause and Kristin E. Rodgers. He graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law and holds an undergraduate degree from The Catholic University of America, according to his LinkedIn page.

Clerk of state Supreme Court Debra A.‎ Saunders

Saunders previously served as the high court’s former deputy general counsel and owns The Daily Scoop ice cream shops with her husband. She holds a law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

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Assistant Attorney General Shannon G. Signore

Signore prosecutes child abuse and sex crimes against children for the state attorney general’s office.  She was named chief of the child-abuse unit in 2011 and was chosen in 2016 to serve as the first Beau Biden Foundation fellow, during which she  worked on child-protection issues in the Washington, D.C. office of the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute, a branch of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Prior to joining the attorney general’s office, Signore served as a judicial law clerk in the Rhode Island Supreme and Superior courts, according to a news release. She earned her bachelor of science at Roger Williams University and a law degree  from the Roger Williams University School of Law.

District Court Judge Christopher K. Smith

Smith was named to the state’s busiest bench by Gov. Gina Raimondo in 2018 after previously representing indigent clients with the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office. He earned a law degree from the Roger Williams University School of Law, as well as an advanced degree focusing on environmental and natural-resources law from the University of Oregon School of Law, according to a 2018 Roger Williams law piece highlighting his nomination by Raimondo for its diversity. 

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Who wasn't selected

The candidates not selected after an interview and public-hearing process Wednesday include Angelyne E. Cooper-Bailey,  legal counsel for the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training; Maria F. Deaton, a former prosecutor who now works for Lynch & Pine and is a probate judge in East Providence; Kas R. DeCarvalho, a partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O'Gara and who serves as vice chairman of the board of directors of The Metropolitan Career and Technical Center; Michael B. Forte, a partner with the Warwick firm Lonardo Forte & Trudeau and senior administrative judge of the Cranston Municipal Court; and Mark J. Trovato, chief of the attorney general’s Washington County office.