Magistrate to leave

Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, criticized by a judicial ethics panel for signing soon-disavowed search warrants for the Marion County Record office and two homes in 2023, is being transferred out of the county.

Chief Administrative Judge Benjamin Sexton announced last week that Amy Coppola, a magistrate at Junction City, has been assigned to begin serving 2½ days a week in Marion County.

Viar, elected from Morris County, had been serving in Marion County previously.

Coppola has been a magistrate since Jan. 8, 2021.