There will be changes on the bench in Baxter County Circuit Court beginning January 1.
The 14th Judicial Circuit is comprised of Baxter, Boone, Marion and Newton Counties.
The most significant changes will come in the assignments of Circuit Judges Andrew Bailey and John Putman.
Circuit Judge Andrew Bailey will be taking over 100 percent of the criminal cases in Baxter and Marion Counties now being handled by Putman.
Bailey will also handle 20 percent of domestic relations cases and 20 percent of civil cases filed in all four counties.
He will also be responsible for adult specialty courts, such as drug court, in all four counties.
Putman who is scheduled to retire at the end of 2026 will be handling 100 percent of all criminal cases in Boone and Newton Counties, 30 percent of both the civil and domestic relations cases in all four counties.
Putman, who lives in Harrison, was first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2020. He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas and from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law.
He was in private practice in Harrison for 17 years and served as a deputy prosecutor on a part-time basis before he was elected to the bench.
Mountain Home attorney Ben Burnett announced in early July that he would be a candidate for Putman’s position.
Burnett is a graduate of Kansas State University and the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia.
Burnett did not draw an opponent in his run for the circuit judgeship. He will replace Judge Putman in January 2027.
Bailey is a Cotter High School graduate, received a bachelor’s degree in education from Arkansas State University in
Jonesboro and a law degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
He also interned with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Arlington, VA.
In addition to handling the criminal cases that had been assigned to Judge Putman in Baxter and Marion Counties as well as a percentage of domestic relations and civil cases in all four counties, Bailey will preside over the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program.
Bailey opened his Mountain Home law office in June 2006. In addition to his private practice, Bailey also served as a deputy public defender.
He currently serves as a member of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
The commission is charged with making recommendations to the Arkansas Supreme Court regarding the suspension, removal, involuntary retirement or censure of lower court judges.
He was first elected a circuit judge in the 14th Judicial District in 2018 and re-elected to a full six-year term in 2020.
Judge Deanna “Suzie” Layton will continue to handle all juvenile and probate cases in all four counties and Judge Johnnie Copeland will handle 50 percent of domestic relations cases in all four counties and the same percentage of civil cases in all four counties.
The two district courts will operate in basically the same manner as before. The two district court judges are Jodi Carney in Baxter and Marion Counties and Wes Bradford in Boone and Newton.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has administrative authority over lower courts in the state. The court is responsible for approving administrative and operational changes such as those about to take place in the 14th Judicial District.
The state’s highest court issues per curiam (for the court) orders on administrative plans for lower courts. The order approving the administrative proposal for the 14th Judicial District was issued December 11.
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