photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Judge Sally Pokorny at a hearing for Derrick Del Reed on Sept. 14, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Reed is charged with first degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Kamarjay Shaw.

Updated at 4:50 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9

Douglas County District Judge Sally Pokorny will step down this spring after 17 years on the bench.

Pokorny, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, was sworn in on Jan. 15, 2009, to replace retiring Judge Jack Murphy. Her retirement date has been set for April 10.

Sally Pokorny, second from right, is fitted with her robe by her son Brian, at left and Shawnee County District Judge Jean Schmidt, right. Pokorny was sworn in as the newest Douglas County District Court judge Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. Also joining Pokorny for her robing ceremony from left are Deke Davis, 11, Ellie Davis, 13, Pokorny’s son Mike, and Libby Davis, 7. The Davis’s are nephews and nieces of Pokorny.

Colleague Mark Simpson, chief judge of the 7th Judicial District, called Pokorny an “outstanding judge” whose retirement was “well-earned” and who would be difficult to replace.

“I’ve had the good fortune to appear in front of Judge Pokorny as an attorney and to serve with her as a colleague,” Simpson told the Journal-World. “… Judge Pokorny is diligent in her work and is empathetic to everyone that appears in her courtroom. Her breadth and depth of experience, her wisdom, and her kindness make her irreplaceable.”

Before ascending to the bench, Pokorny, originally from Independence, Kansas, was a private attorney in Lawrence with three decades of legal experience. She had also served as Shawnee County’s assistant district attorney, as adjunct professor in trial techniques at Washburn University, as Cherryvale city attorney, as a part-time child support enforcement attorney for Social and Rehabilitative Services and also worked in private practice in Montgomery County.

As the Journal-World previously reported, Pokorny originally planned to be a teacher. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in history and education from Washburn University in 1975. A stint as a student teacher in Topeka scuttled her plans, she said, and she found her true calling in the law. She earned her juris doctorate from Washburn in 1978.

Her addition to the court in Lawrence in 2009 created a female majority of judges in Douglas County, with four women and two men serving at that time.

Pokorny hears felony criminal cases and presides over the county’s Behavioral Health Court, which came into being under her leadership about 10 years ago. The BHC, an alternative to the traditional court system, is designed for defendants who struggle with mental health issues. No one takes an adversarial role toward the defendants, while Pokorny takes an active role in directing and monitoring their treatment.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Josh Walters, from left, Judge Sally Pokorny and Amanda Klopfenstein pose after a graduation ceremony for Douglas County’s Behavioral Health Court on Thursday, May 19, 2022. Walters and Klopfenstein graduated from the court program and had their charges dismissed.

In 2015, Pokorny received the Kansas Women Attorney’s Association’s Jennie Mitchell Kellogg Achievement Award in recognition of her professional excellence and for having “opened doors” for female lawyers “that were historically closed to them.”

The KWAA president at the time, Marilyn Harp, described Pokorny as a “trailblazer.”

“Judge Pokorny is recognized for many ‘firsts’ in her career, serving as a role model and mentor to many Kansas women attorneys,” Harp said.

Pokorny likes to remind the community — as she did last fall at the dedication of a Van Go bench honoring female jurists — that good things happen at the courthouse, not just strife and conflict and punishment, but weddings and adoptions and family reunifications.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Judge Sally Pokorny sits on Van Go artist Langley Gottesburen’s bench at the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Gottesburen is at left, and Martha Hodge Smith, of the Douglas County Bar Association, is at right.