Six months later, Lamoille County has a new top prosecutor.
Gov. Phil Scott appointed Aliena Gerhard to the post Tuesday, according to an announcement from his office. Gerhard had been serving as the county’s acting state’s attorney since December, after Todd Shove resigned from the post, citing the demands of the job.
“It is my honor to continue to work with community leaders to seek and obtain justice and to promote safer communities,” Gerhard said, according to the announcement.
Shove, who was elected as a Democrat, resigned less than a year into his second four-year term. Gerhard will fulfill the rest of that term, through January 2027, according to Scott’s office. She was selected after Scott sought recommendations from the Lamoille County Democrats, he said, and because she has “demonstrated a commitment to seeking justice in order to make our communities safer.”
Gerhard first joined the Lamoille County state’s attorney’s office in 2021 as a deputy. In her time in charge of the office, she has managed some high-profile criminal cases, including the prosecution of a Morrisville man, Henry Lovell, who was the subject of a three-day search after firing at a police officer in 2023. A hearing in that case is scheduled this week.
In another of her cases, the trial of Seth Brunell, who faces a murder charge in the stabbing death of a transgender woman in Morristown two years ago, is set to take place sometime this year. Gerhard has asked the judge to delay it until August or September, citing a heavy caseload and a staffing crunch in her office.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Phil Scott names Aliena Gerhard as Lamoille County’s top prosecutor.