Cooper names three judges

Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday announced the judicial appointments of former longtime state elections board chairman Larry Leake and Vinston Rozier, a Wake County district court judge elevated to superior court.

Leake will be a district court judge in Avery, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga counties. He spent 20 years on the state Board of Elections, including 16 as its chairman, where he played a role in campaign finance controversies involving former governors Bev Perdue and Mike Easley. He has been a lawyer for more than 40 years.

Rozier, who lost his bid for a seat on the state appeals court last year, has been a lawyer for 15 years, and has worked as an assistant district attorney and an ombudsman for the State Bureau of Investigation.

A third announcement was the appointment of Marion Boone to serve as a district court judge in Stokes and Surry counties. She has 30 years of legal experience as a private attorney.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Rozier as a former district court judge. He is currently in that position.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Cooper names three judges."