By Gloria Lloyd
News Editor
glorialloyd@callnewspapers.com

Crestwood’s new municipal judge is St. Louis County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jason Denney, a Crestwood resident.

Longtime Crestwood Judge John Newsham was promoted to serve as a county Circuit Court judge, which created a vacancy.

The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the hiring of Denney for the judgeship at its April 25 meeting.

Ward 3 Alderman Grant Mabie said that although the city had “big shoes to fill with Judge Newsham leaving,” Denney is a worthy successor.

“I haven’t gone up against him because I don’t do criminal defense, but I’ve seen him in action in court and he is a formidable and talented prosecutor and I think brings with him a reputation for fairness and is respected by his colleagues but also his opponents,” Mabie said. “And I think he’s going to do a fantastic job as our next municipal judge.”

Denney came to the city with letters of recommendation from several noted St. Louis County officials, including county Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, the head of the Major Case Squad and the head of the county Circuit Court.

He was “overwhelmingly” selected by Mayor Gregg Roby and city staff as the most qualified of eight applicants, Roby said.

“Bob McCulloch himself endorsed Mr. Denney,” Roby said, and along with the other recommendations from high up, “those were all very polished individuals with great reputations and certainly gave us a good amount of confidence in you.”

The mayor said he is sure Newsham will “do very well” in his promotion to the circuit court and should be proud of his service in Crestwood.

“He always brought a lot of respect to our municipal court here,” Roby said. “I’d hear a lot of good things about John and about our court system from other mayors throughout the county. So again, we hated to lose John but I think we’ve got a great replacement for him moving forward. We hope that Mr. Denney will be able to serve for many years until maybe he takes a circuit judge’s position.”

Denney thanked Roby and the board for the “privilege and honor” of serving the residents as their municipal judge.