Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Pensacola Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell as aFlorida Supreme Court justice 30 Dec., saying Bell would enhance the court's geographic diversity. Judge Bell is also widely identified as a conservative Christian. As a trial judge, Bell sentenced a Panhandle physician after the nation's first manslaughter conviction of a doctor in an OxyContin case. The physician was sentenced to 63 years in prison for the deaths of four patients who overdosed on the painkiller. Bell obtained his law degree from Florida State University after earning a bachelor's degree from Davidson College. Judge Bell is a Presbyterian.