H. L. Kirkpatrick | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the Raleigh County Circuit Court | |
| In office January 1, 1996 –2024 | |
| Appointed by | Gaston Caperton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Harry Louis Kirkpatrick III 1951 (age 74–75) |
| Spouse | Rebecca Nicewonder |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Kentucky (BA) West Virginia University (JD) |
Harry Louis Kirkpatrick III (born 1951),abbreviated H. L. or H.L.,is a retired judge of the Raleigh County Circuit Court in West Virginia. [1] [2] Kirkpatrick was appointed by Governor Gaston Caperton in 1995 to serve as a circuit judge on the Tenth Judicial District in Raleigh County, [3] [4] [5] [6] where he served from 1996 to 2024.
Harry Louis Kirkpatrick III was born in Beckley,West Virginia and grew up in Fayette and Raleigh Counties. He is a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley,West Virginia),University of Kentucky,and the West Virginia University College of Law. [3]
Kirkpatrick served as a lawyer for more than twenty years until he was appointed to serve as a circuit judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit in 1995 by then-West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton. Kirkpatrick assumed office in 1996 and was re-elected in 2000,2008,and 2016. [3]
Kirkpatrick announced in November 2023 that he would not run for re-election after nearly 29 years on the bench. [7] He had been chief judge from 2016 to 2024. He retired at the end of 2024,but stated he would preside over the murder trial of Natalie Cochran, [8] a former pharmacist and fraudster [9] who was then convicted of murdering her husband Michael Cochran in 2019 by poisoning him with insulin and sentenced by Kirkpatrick to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [10] [11]