Gov. Butch Otter appointed Kootenai County Magistrate judge Ben Simpson to replace retiring judge Charles Hosack on the Idaho First District Court.

"Judge Simpson has big shoes to fill, but I’m confident that his experience, knowledge and talent will enable him to ably serve," Otter said in a news release.

The First Judicial District covers the five northernmost Idaho counties and meets in Coeur d'Alene.

Simpson became a magistrate judge in Kootenai County in 2000.  Before that, he was an attorney for 15 years for a firm located east of Coeur d'Alene.

Hosack will step down at the end of the year.  He served on the court since 1998.  He presided over the Aryan Nations trial in 2000 that made national headlines when a jury found the organization's leaders negligent in an attack and ordered them to pay over $6 million.

Read Otter's news release on Simpson's appointment here.