NASHVILLE (AP) — The Governor's Council for Judicial Appointments has forwarded three names to Gov. Bill Lee to consider for a vacancy on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

After a public hearing and interviews, the council last week selected Joshua B. Dougan, Matthew Joseph Wilson and William Mark Ward, the Tennessee Supreme Court said in a statement. Dougan is the assistant district attorney in the district that covers Chester, Henderson and Madison counties. Wilson is an assistant U.S. attorney. Ward is a retired criminal court judge in Shelby County.

The vacancy in the court's Western Section occurred when John Everett Williams died Sept. 2.