After serving as a Deschutes County Circuit Court judge for almost four years, Roger DeHoog has been appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals, Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday.

DeHoog, who will assume the position Jan. 1, will be the only judge serving on either state appellate court from outside the Willamette Valley to serve on the state’s Court of Appeals, Brown’s office wrote in a news release Monday.

DeHoog — whose legal career began in public defense in Bend in 1993 — said after the announcement he was “very honored” for a position he called a “new challenge,” though he would miss his time on the circuit court bench.

“We are lucky to have a number of fine and dedicated judges here, together with the tireless staff and management it takes to keep it all together,” DeHoog wrote in an email Monday. “I cannot single out a memorable case or two from the last four years. I can say that in my 20-plus-year legal career, the last four have been the most rewarding, because of the lawyers, the parties and the many jurors, witnesses and members of the public who appear in this court and who make this a great legal community in which to work.”

DeHoog was appointed by former Gov. John Kitzhaber to replace retiring judge Stephen Tiktin in January 2012.

The Circuit Court’s presiding judge, Alta Brady, called DeHoog a “tireless member” of the court.

“The Court of Appeals’ gain is our loss,” Brady wrote in an email Monday. “We appreciate his dedication to the Deschutes County court.”

A graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, DeHoog was admitted to the bar in March 1993, according to the Oregon State Bar website. That year, he took a position at Crabtree & Rahmsdorff Defense Services Inc. in Bend, according to the nonprofit firm’s director, Tom Crabtree.

“You could not have picked a better person for the position,” Crabtree wrote in an email to Brown shared with The Bulletin on Monday.

“We certainly will miss him on the bench in Deschutes County, but the state is gaining an excellent jurist.”

Between 2000 and 2008, DeHoog worked at a private firm in Bend, specializing in domestic relations and criminal defense cases. He represented Ashley Summers, one of the infamous “Redmond Five,” who was sentenced to 300 months in prison for her role in the 2001 killing of Barbara Thomas, according to Bulletin archives.

In 2008, he became a senior assistant attorney general at the Oregon Department of Justice in Portland, where he worked until his circuit court appointment.

Thirteen judges sit on the state’s Court of Appeals and are charged with hearing civil and criminal cases on appeal from local circuit courts. Cases from the Oregon Court of Appeals can be appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court. DeHoog will fill the vacancy left by Lynn Nakamoto, whom the governor appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court on Monday.

The governor will appoint DeHoog’s replacement on the Deschutes County Circuit Court.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376,

cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com