Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appoints 2 women to judicial posts in Eaton County

CHARLOTTE — A resignation and two political appointments have shuffled the makeup of Eaton County's district and circuit court benches.

Less than a week after appointing former Eaton County District Court Judge Kelly Morton to the seat held by Eaton County Circuit Judge John Maurer, who retired after about eight years on the bench, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday appointed Adrianne Van Langevelde to serve Morton's unexpired district court term.

Morton's circuit court tenure began Tuesday, and Van Langevelde will move into Morton's old district court seat on July 22. The partial terms for both judges will expire at noon on Jan. 1, 2027.

Morton and Van Langevelde are both former prosecutors who specialized in domestic violence cases at one point in their careers, and both received their law degrees from Michigan State University.

Morton worked as an assistant prosecutor for 18 years, the vast majority of that time in the Eaton County Prosecutor's Office, before winning a seat on the district bench in 2020. Her work included stints as a specialty drug prosecutor, sexual assault prosecutor and domestic violence prosecutor, the governor said.

Morton also has served on the Eaton County Domestic and Sexual Violence Coordinating Committee, the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan and the Eaton County Human Trafficking Task Force and is now president of the Siren/Eaton Shelter Board of Directors, Whitmer's office said.

Van Langevelde has been a member of the Michigan Parole Board since late 2020 and previously worked as an assistant prosecutor in Eaton and Mecosta counties.

Her LinkedIn profile said she spent nearly 10½ years with the Eaton County Prosecutor's Office after a 16-month stint with Mecosta County in Big Rapids. She previously had worked as a law clerk for Legal Services of South Central Michigan and the Board of Veterans Appeals.

During her Eaton County tenure, she was the designated child abuse and neglect prosecutor for three years, and as the domestic violence prosecutor, handled all intimate-partner cases, Whitmer's office said.

Van Langevelde served a two-year term on the Charlotte City County and sits on the city's Tree Board and Parks Committee. She also has served on the Eaton County Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team and the Eaton County Domestic and Sexual Violence Coordinating Council.

"I will work diligently to ensure that everyone who comes before me is treated with dignity, respect, and fairness under the law,” Van Langevelde said in Whitmer's release announcing her appointment.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com . Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appoints 2 women to judicial posts in Eaton County