Bueltel elected top judge of 3rd Judicial District

Judge Joseph Bueltel been elected to a two-year term as chief judge of Minnesota’s Third Judicial District. The position is filled by an election conducted by district judges who serve in the Third Judicial District. His term as chief judge will begin on July 1.
Bueltel was appointed to serve on the Third Judicial District bench in April 2002. Before serving as a judge, he spent six years in private practice, and seven years as an assistant public defender and two years as the chief public defender in the Third Judicial District.
He graduated with his juris doctorate degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of law, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. Bueltel’s chambers are located in the Steele County Courthouse in Owatonna. 
Former assistant Steele County Attorney, Judge Christine A. Long was elected to a two-year term as assistant chief judge in the Third Judicial District. Long joined the bench in June 2010. Prior to joining the bench, she spent eight years in private practice, and 19 years as an assistant Steele County Attorney. 
Long received her juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota Law School, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Luther College.  She is chambered at the Rice County Courthouse in Faribault.
According to state statute, the chief judge of a judicial district exercises general administrative authority over the courts within the district, including assigning judges to serve in locations throughout the district. The chief judge of each judicial district also serves as a member of the administrative policy-making authority for the Minnesota Judicial Branch, the Minnesota Judicial Council. No judge may serve as chief judge or assistant chief judge for more than two consecutive two-year terms.
The Third Judicial District has 24 judges, 1 family court referee and 120 staff who handled over 55,000 cases in 2020 in the counties of Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona