Josh Wilson has been appointed as district judge in Coffee County after serving as assistant district attorney in Pike and Coffee counties for the past six years.

“I am super excited to have this opportunity,” Wilson said. “When the vacancy became public I reached out to the governor’s office to let her know my interest.”

Wilson campaigned last year to serve as the circuit judge for the circuit including Pike and Coffee counties, but narrowly last in the Republican primary to Henry “Sonny” Reagan.

Wilson said he has felt led to serve publicly in a judicial role.

“I have always had a passion for public service,” Wilson said. “The role of assistant district attorney allowed me to do that. I got to serve the people of Coffee and Pike counties in that office and when the opportunity became available when Judge Head retired, I decided to run for Circuit Judge. When this vacancy came up, I knew it could be the right opportunity for me.”

Wilson was appointed to the seat following the resignation of former district judge Chris Kaminski, who resigned after a complaint was filed against him on July by the Alabama State Judicial Inquiry Commission.

The complaint charged Kaminski with “certain conduct relating to his romantic relationship with an attorney who regularly practiced before him as violating the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics and severely undermining the public’s and the (Legal) Bar’s confidence in the integrity, independence and impartiality of the judiciary.”

Kaminski resigned the same day, and the Alabama Court of the Judiciary on August 15 adjudged that he was guilty of multiple violations of the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics and ordered that he “never again seek judicial office in the state of Alabama.

According to the initial complaint, Kaminski “engaged in a pattern and practice of appointing the attorney to cases, taking judicial actions in cases in which the attorney was an attorney of record; even after their relationship was publicly acknowledged; entering attorney’s-fee-declaration orders for the attorney’s benefit; and failing to disqualify himself from cases in which the attorney was an attorney of record.”

Wilson said he hopes to bring “credit to the bench.”

“Coffee County is home – it’s where I live and where I have worked and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the people of Coffee County,” Wilson said.