Schuylkill County Judge John E. Domalakes announced Wednesday that he is running for retention in the Nov. 5 General Election.
Domalakes, 66, of Frackville, has been a judge since December 1993, when he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of his former law partner, Wilbur H. Rubright.
A Republican, he had been elected in November 1993 to his own 10-year term, defeating Assistant District Attorney Maryann Conway, and successfully ran for retention for another 10-year term in 2003.
Unlike in partisan elections, Domalakes will have no opponent and carry no party affiliation when he appears on the November ballot. Instead, voters will be asked to vote yes or no on whether they want him to remain on the county bench.
Domalakes said he has presided over hundreds of criminal and civil cases.
Criminal cases have included homicide, rape, burglary and robbery, while civil cases have included medical malpractice, negligence, property disputes and custody.
In March, he presided over the two-day homicide trial of Jarvin M. Huggins, 19, of Mahanoy City, who was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and related crimes in the April 3, 2012, killing of Gene M. Slavinsky, 48, of Mahanoy City. Domalakes sentenced Huggins on May 10 to life in prison without parole; the defendant is confined at State Correctional Institution/Camp Hill.
A graduate of the former Immaculate Heart High School, Domalakes is an honors graduate of both DeSales University, Center Valley, and Penn State Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle.
In addition to being a judge, Domalakes serves as associate editor of the Schuylkill Legal record and a member of the Schuylkill County Bar Association's Civil Rules Committee, and has been a lecturer and instructor for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's continuing legal education program.
Domalakes also is active in the community. He is a member, lector, Eucharistic minister, block party volunteer and president of the Holy Name Society at St. Joseph's Parish, Frackville; a member, past president and SKIP chairman of the Frackville Rotary Club; a member of Anthracite Council 144 of the Knights of Lithuania; a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus; a member of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Travelers Protective Association and Good Will Fire Company, Frackville.
Domalakes also is an active hiker and birdwatcher, and has led hikes for the Schuylkill Conservation District and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He also has written numerous articles on county history.
He has been honored as Citizen of the Year in 2003 by the Frackville Lions and Rotary clubs, and received the God and Country Award in October 2003 from the Schuylkill Assembly of the Knights of Columbus, the Conservation Service Award in 2011 from the Schuylkill Conservation District, and distinguished alumni awards from Cardinal Brennan High School (the successor to Immaculate Heart) and DeSales University.
Domalakes has been married for 43 years and has four children and five grandchildren.
If voters do not retain Domalakes, Gov. Tom Corbett would nominate a temporary successor, who would be subject to confirmation by the state Senate, and the seat would be filled in the 2015 General Election.