Fourth magistrate added in Mon County, five and six coming soon

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Perri Jo DeChristopher has sworn in Tim Pocious as the fourth magistrate. Pocious takes over for Todd Gaujot, who recently resigned after his second admonishment from the Judicial Investigative Committee.

In 2019, Pocious was sworn-in to finish the term of magistrate Darris Summers who retired. In 2020, Pocious lost a close election for magistrate to Gaujot.

“We are happy to have Magistrate Pocious back in Monongalia County Magistrate Court,” Judge DeChristopher said. “He served the county well when he was previously appointed to Magistrate Court, and we are certain he will continue to serve the county well.”

After working as a court security officer in the Monongalia County Justice Center for more than 10 years, Pocious knows the workflow and is excited to get started.

“I’m excited about the future of the county now that we’ve got a few more magistrates, we’ll be able to get some justice in this county,” Pocious said.

Magistrate Jim Nabors has been one of three magistrates handling the full load before the addition of Pocious. Nabors is glad to see Pocious added and looks forward to July, when House Bill 3332 goes into effect.

“He knows the workload and he did a good job before when he was there and he’s not coming into it not knowing what to expect and hopefully we can keep going and on July 1 maybe we can get some more help,” Nabors said.

House Bill 3332 adds the fifth magistrate immediately and allows for a sixth to be added in the 2024 General Election.

Magistrate Bane has recently kept the statistics from year-to-year to show state lawmakers the need, but he said the struggle to add magistrates has been ongoing since 2001. In 2000, one Monongalia County magistrate was moved to Mercer County.

“The delegates really stood up for us and I can’t say enough about Joe Statler,” Bane said. “The other the delegates in Monongalia County and Mike Oliverio over on the senate side.”

Pocious will begin hearing cases on Monday, March 27.