ST. CROIX — Assistant Attorney General Christopher Timmons has been appointed as a magistrate judge of the Virgin Islands Superior Court, Division of St. Croix for a four-year term commencing February 22, according to court records.
Timmons, who served as an assistant attorney general with the Virgin Islands Department of Justice for the past six years, was selected from a list provided by the Magistrate Judge Selection Panel, according to Presiding Judge Jessica Gallivan’s order of appointment filed today.
Gallivan appointed Timmons after he successfully completed a background investigation conducted by the DOJ’s Office of the Attorney General.
Attorney General Gordon Rhea said he was pleased with the appointment and praised Timmons’ leadership as chief of the DOJ’s Civil Division.
“He has quite a background in various areas of the law,” Rhea said. “I think he’ll make a superb magistrate. I’m sorry to lose him because he’s been such a benefit to the Department of Justice, but I think as a magistrate, he will be a tremendous benefit to the people of the Virgin Islands.”
According to his LinkedIn page, Timmons earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas at Arlington and a law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana. He previously worked as corporate counsel and operated his own law firm. Before joining the DOJ in 2020, he served about seven and a half years as an assistant attorney general in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
In addition to Timmons’ appointment, two magistrate judges were reappointed to second four-year terms effective February 27, according to a Judiciary of the Virgin Islands press release.
Magistrate Judge Yolan Brow-Ross was reappointed to serve in the St. Croix District, and Magistrate Judge Simone Van Holten-Turnbull was reappointed to serve in the St. Thomas/St. John District. Following a period of public comment, their reappointments were affirmed by a majority vote of the Superior Court judges and confirmed by order dated February 16 and signed by Gallivan.
Born and raised on St. Croix, Brow-Ross attended public and private schools growing up. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and sociology from Duke University in North Carolina and a law degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. Her 27-year legal career includes 11 years in private practice before joining the Office of the Territorial Public Defender in 2010, where she served until her initial appointment as a magistrate judge in 2022.
Van Holten-Turnbull, a St. Thomas native and graduate of Sts. Peter and Paul High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Hampton University in Virginia and a law degree from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. Admitted to the practice of law in the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, her career includes service as assistant legal counsel in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands; seven and a half years as an assistant attorney general; and four years as an assistant territorial public defender before being promoted in 2016 to chief deputy territorial public defender. She began her term as a magistrate judge in 2022.
