Kentucky

From the Murray Times and Ledger:

Governor taps Blankenship to fill Ward's post



By HAWKINS TEAGUE

Staff Writer

Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed Murray attorney C. Mark Blankenship as the commonwealth attorney for the 42nd Judicial District covering Calloway and Marshall counties.

?Mr. Blankenship has an exemplary record and he comes highly recommended by people in the region,? said Jay Blanton, communications director for the Governor's Office. ?Gov. Beshear was pleased to make this appointment.?

Blankenship will be occupying the position previously held by Mike Ward, who resigned in August after pleading guilty to DUI charges in March and July of this year.

Blankenship said he would be sworn in by Circuit Judge Denis Foust this afternoon in Benton.

He said he had received a fax at his office yesterday informing him of the appointment and that he was excited to be taking the job.

He said that he and others in the community felt that the position should be held by a Calloway County resident and that he was thankful for their support and their lobbying to Beshear on his behalf.

?I always hoped to get the opportunity to hold this position and I'm going to do the best I can,? he said.

The position is a six-year term, but Blankenship said there were two years left in this term.

He said he hoped to bring a detective back into the commonwealth attorney's office, as well as have two assistant attorneys and two or three paralegals.

Blankenship graduated from Murray State University in 1974 and from the University of Louisville's Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 1979. He has been a practicing attorney since then and was assistant commonwealth attorney from 1982 to 1987.

According to Ledger & Times archives, Blankenship was an associate and partner in the law firm Hughes, Gregory, Easley, Blankenship and Courtney. He established his solo practice in 1997.

Blankenship is a Murray native and has served as a public and federal defender and special domestic relations commissioner. At his current practice, he has handled cases across western Kentucky mostly dealing with school, employment, civil rights, criminal and real estate law.