ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — Box Butte County commissioners have appointed a former U.S. attorney for Nebraska as their interim county attorney.

Joe Stecher was named to the position on Tuesday. He’s replacing Kathleen “K.J.” Hutchinson, who resigned effective Jan. 7.

Stecher, of Harrison, has a private practice and is the deputy county attorney for Dawes and Sioux counties.

Stecher was a Dodge County prosecutor before being appointed a deputy assistant U.S. attorney in 2002. He became U.S. attorney after Mike Heavican was appointed to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Stecher and other U.S. attorneys lost their posts in 2009, after the change in U.S. presidential administrations.