Hope native Pryor preparing to become U.S. magistrate judge in Indiana.

Pryor to hear cases in Indiana district

Doris Pryor, a native of Hope, is in the process of becoming a U.S. magistrate judge in Indiana.

She will fill a vacancy that became open after Magistrate Judge Denise LaRue died on Aug. 2. Pryor is undergoing a background check and, once completed, her appointment will be finalized. The FBI background check can take several months.

“The court eagerly anticipates welcoming Ms. Pryor to the bench,”

Chief Judge

Jane Magnus-Stinson said in a statement. “She has demonstrated ability to handle complex cases in her varying assignments as an Assistant United States Attorney. She has also demonstrated her commitment to the principle of equal justice under the law during her laudable career with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and, before that, as a deputy public defender.”

As a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Indiana, Pryor will conduct various pretrial matters and evidentiary proceedings in civil cases on delegation from a district judge, and preside over trial and disposition of civil cases upon consent of the litigants. She will also handle preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, and preside over trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases.

Her work will be primarily in the Indianapolis Division of the Southern District, but she will travel to the court’s other divisional offices to hold proceedings and conduct settlement conferences.

Pryor graduated from Hope High School in 1994 and from the University of Central Arkansas in 1999. She was a political science major at UCA.

She earned a law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Ind., in 2003, which is where she met her husband. The same year, she was admitted to the Indiana Bar.

In her career, she has worked as the national security chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, serving in that role since September 2014.

From August 2006 until her appointment as national security chief, Pryor was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. From August 2005 through August 2006, she was a deputy public defender on the State of Arkansas Public Defenders Commission.

She served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes in the Eastern District of Arkansas (August 2004-August 2005), and for Chief Judge Lavenski Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit (August 2003-August 2004).