Two men are seeking both parties’ nominations for the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Elk and Cameron counties.
Both men, Shawn T. McMahon and Bradley J. Kraus, have cross-filed.
McMahon
McMahon, 44, is a registered Democrat.
He is a 1993 graduate of Ridgway Area High School, a 1997 graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude, and a 2004 graduate of Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law, Juris Doctorate. In July 2004, McMahon successfully passed the Pennsylvania Bar Exam and subsequently was admitted in October 2004 to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
McMahon previously served as law clerk, summer of 2003 and full-time 2004-2005, for Judge Richard A. Masson, as well as serving as summer law clerk for the late Judge Vernon D. Roof, at the time of Roof’s passing in June 2002.
In 2005 McMahon began practicing law as an associate attorney with Coppolo & Coppolo, St. Marys, and in 2007 he established his own law practice in Ridgway engaging in a diverse general practice of law including such areas as child custody, divorces, real estate, business formations and transactions, estate planning, estate administration, civil litigation and criminal law. While maintaining a private law practice, McMahon also served as a part-time public defender from 2007 to 2013 in the Office of the Clearfield County Public Defender.
In 2013 McMahon was first elected Elk County District Attorney having defeated incumbent Bradley J. Kraus in the May 2013 primary election. In 2017 McMahon ran unopposed for re-election as Elk County District Attorney for a four-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2018.
His press release stated: “McMahon believes that his life experiences, education, and legal work experiences, namely serving as a law clerk, engaging in a diverse general law practice, serving as a public defender and as district attorney, which has provided him with extensive courtroom and appellate experience, uniquely qualifies him as a judicial candidate and provides a breadth and depth of experience and knowledge that will allow him to effectively, efficiently, fairly and impartially serve.”
McMahon resides in Ridgway with his wife, Kathy, and daughter, Karissa.
Kraus
Kraus is a native of St. Marys, and graduated from Elk County Christian High School in 1985. He attended St. Vincent College in Latrobe, where he earned a B.S. degree in economics and a minor in philosophy in 1989. He attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in Pittsburgh, and graduated in 1992. In November of 1992, he was admitted to the practice of law before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Upon his admission to the practice of law in Pennsylvania, Kraus was associated with the law practice of Norbert J. Powell in Johnsonburg. When Powell passed away in 1998, Kraus maintained a private civil practice in Johnsonburg while also serving as the elected district attorney of Elk County.
In 1994, Kraus was appointed as an assistant district attorney under then district attorney, the late Vernon “Buddy” Roof. In July of 1996, Kraus was appointed as Elk County District Attorney. He won election to his first four-year term in November of 1997. He successfully won re-election as district attorney in 2001, 2005 and 2009 respectively. The position of district attorney became a full-time position in 2006.
Kraus believes that his 18-plus years of prosecutorial experience have instilled in him a solid understanding of criminal law, along with a “great appreciation and perception of the important role and duties of the president judge of a judicial district in a criminal case.”
Since 2014, Kraus has been affiliated with the law firm of Meyer Wagner Brown & Kraus in St. Marys where he currently is a partner. Since this law firm is engaged in the general practice of law, he has had the opportunity to once again be engaged in various aspects of civil law, including, but not limited to real estate, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, elder law, but has also received court appointments to serve as a guardian ad litem for juvenile dependents and to serve as a master in real estate actions.
Kraus is married to Laurey Wolfe Kraus. They reside in St. Marys and are the parents of five children, Kevin, Luke, Mary, Gabriel and Mark Kraus.
