Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Joseph J. Vukovich.

Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Joseph J. Vukovich.

Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Joseph J. Vukovich served as a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court today and heard oral arguments in a Summit County case.

Judge Vukovich replaced Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor,who recused herself from State v. Wesson (Case No. 2009-0739). The death penalty case concerned an Akron man convicted of aggravated murder and attempted murder after a home robbery.

According to the Ohio Constitution, in the event of a recusal by a justice, the chief justice or acting chief justice can select any of the 69 sitting Ohio appellate court judges to sit temporarily on the Supreme Court. As the senior associate justice, Justice Paul E. Pfeifer named Judge Vukovich to sit in place of Chief Justice O’Connor in this case.

Judge Vukovich last served as a visiting judge on the Supreme Court in 2007.

He was elected to and has served the Seventh District Court of Appeals since 1996. Judge Vukovich also served as the assistant attorney general of Ohio and the deputy law director in Youngstown. He was an Ohio state senator from 1993-1996 and a state representative from 1979-1992. He began his career working in private practice.

“I sat on this case with the recognition of its importance and with the same dedication and deliberation embraced by the justices of the Supreme Court,” Judge Vukovich said. “Anything less would be unacceptable to the court and to the public.”

The Seventh District Court of Appeals serves eight counties in eastern Ohio, and hears cases from county, municipal and common pleas courts as well as original actions in habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, procedendo and quo warranto.