Gov. Mark Dayton appointed two judges Wednesday to the state's Court of Appeals.
Judge Denise Reilly has served in Hennepin County District Court for 16 years. Peter Reyes Jr. is a partner at Barnes and Thornburg and previously worked at Cargill Inc. and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi.
They will replace the retiring Thomas Kalitowski and Terri Stoneburner next month.
Reilly, of Long Lake, was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Minnesota district before she was appointed to Hennepin County District Court in 1997. She teaches trial practice as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota law school and serves on the Minnesota Supreme Court's Children's Justice Initiative Advisory Committee.
She also has served on two canvassing boards that decided closely contested elections.
In 2008, she was on the three-judge panel that ruled Republican Norm Coleman failed to prove he received more legally cast votes in the U.S. Senate race against Democrat Al Franken. Two years later, she was involved in the recount vote that gave Dayton the victory in the governor's race over Republican Tom Emmer.
Reyes, of Roseville, is former president of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is on the board of trustees for William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.
The Court of Appeals is made up of eight judges representing the state's eight congressional districts and 11 judges who serve in an at-large capacity.
