Lamoille County State’s Attorney Todd Shove is stepping down from his post, citing the demands of the job.
Shove, a Democrat from Elmore, ran unopposed in 2022 for a second four-year term. He had won a contested race in 2018 for his first four-year term.
Shove was on vacation this week and not available for comment, according to a person who answered the phone at the Lamoille County State’s Attorney’s Office on Tuesday. An email sent to him through his state address was not immediately returned Tuesday.
According to a letter dated Nov. 16 from Shove to Gov. Phil Scott, the Lamoille County prosecutor wrote he would be resigning from his elected post effective Dec. 1. Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott, said the office received the letter Monday afternoon.
After Dec. 1, according to Maulucci, Lamoille County Deputy State’s Attorney Aliena J. Gerhard will serve as the acting state’s attorney in the county.
The governor’s office will then reach out to the Lamoille County Democratic Committee to solicit names of potential candidates for Scott’s consideration for a permanent replacement, Maulucci added.
Gerhard did not immediately return phone or email messages Tuesday seeking comment.
In his letter to the governor, Shove wrote that there were many aspects of the job he enjoyed, including serving the people of Lamoille County.
“The job is, however, extremely demanding at all times, and takes a significant toll on the State’s Attorney and their family,” Shove wrote.
“To this end,” he added, “by stepping down and into a part-time role, without the stress of managing the office, the staff, and the election cycle, I hope to achieve a better work-life balance for me and my family.”
Shove wrote that the state Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs had offered him an opportunity to work in “limited service” as a deputy state’s attorney on a part-time basis from mid-January to mid-June in a position funded to help address the court backlog of cases associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the high-profile criminal cases pending in Lamoille County is the one against Seth Brunell, who has been held without bail since April 2022 on a charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Fern Feather, a transgender woman from Hinesburg, in Morristown.
In another pending case, Henry Lovell —- the subject of a three-day search in Lamoille County after he allegedly injured a police officer, also in Morristown —- was charged with several offenses, including an attempted murder charge related to the officer’s injuries.
In 2018, Shove defeated the incumbent Lamoille County state’s attorney, Paul Finnerty, in the Democratic primary, and went on to defeat Betsy Anderson, a Republican, in the general election.
According to a 2018 report in Seven Days about the state’s attorney race in Lamoille County, Shove had previously worked in that office as a deputy, at one time serving in a federally funded position focused on prosecuting domestic violence cases.
In 2014, the report added, Shove made a brief bid for the state’s attorney position in Lamoille County but stepped aside after questions were raised over whether he was violating the Hatch Act, which prevents federal government workers from political activities.
He then left the Lamoille County State’s Attorney’s Office in late 2014, spending a year in private practice before taking a position as a deputy state’s attorney in Orleans County, according to the Seven Days report.
