Governor Phil Bredesen named two appointments to the 30 th Judicial District’s Criminal Courts, announcing Shelby County attorney Paula Skahan to fill a position in the Division 1 Criminal Court, and Assistant Shelby County Public Defender W. Mark Ward to fill a position in the Division 9 Criminal Court.
Skahan will fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Bernie Weinman. Ward will fill a vacancy created by Judge J.C. McLin, who was appointed by Bredesen in September to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Western Division.
“Paula Skahan and Mark Ward have extensive experience working in the Shelby County court system. Over the years, these individuals have demonstrated through their work that they have the knowledge, the skill and the integrity to serve Tennesseans with honor as Criminal Court judges in Shelby County,” Bredesen said. “I congratulate them on these milestones in their careers and appreciate their service to the state of Tennessee.”
Paula L. Skahan has practiced law for 19 years. For the last 15 years, she has worked in private practice, specializing primarily in criminal defense law. During that time she was assigned a number of high profile capital murder cases. From 1987 to 1989, she worked as an assistant district attorney in the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office. From 1986 to 1987, she served as an assistant public defender in the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office. She was also appointed to serve as Special Judge in the Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Courts approximately 40 times since 1990.
“I am honored to have been chosen by Governor Bredesen to serve on the Shelby County Criminal Court bench,” said Skahan. “I can assure the people of Shelby County that I will serve this position with honor and integrity, and I am committed to being fair to everyone who participates in the judicial system.”
Skahan, 44, holds bachelor’s degrees in English and French from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Memphis State University. She is a member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, serving on its Board of Directors since 1990, and is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is also a member of the Association of Women Attorneys and the Memphis Bar Association.
W. Mark Ward has practiced law for 25 years. Since 1997, he has worked as an assistant public defender in the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office and as an adjunct professor at The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. Ward also worked in private practice for 16 years, primarily in criminal defense law, while serving as a part-time public defender in Shelby County.
From 1979 to 1981, he was a law clerk in the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2000, he litigated the high profile case of Rogers v. Tennessee, which he argued before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Tennessee Criminal Trial Practice, published by West Publishing Company, and teaches criminal procedure at The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
“I am honored by the Governor’s confidence in me and I look forward to serving in this capacity and serving the people of this state,” said Ward. “I’d like to continue the tradition of integrity that former judges have brought to the criminal court bench in Shelby County.”
Ward, 44, holds a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Memphis State University when he was 22-years-old. He also holds a master’s degree in religion from Memphis Theological Seminary and a master’s degree in criminal justice from The University of Memphis. Ward is a member of the Memphis, Tennessee and American Bar Associations, and the Tennessee and National Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He was chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Criminal Justice Section in 1995 and 1996. In 1998, he was awarded the Tennessee Bar Association’s Public Service Attorney of the Year Award and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Robert W. Ritchie Award for outstanding service.
(12/07/2004)
The Tennessee Supreme Court has appointed two new senior judges, bringing the number statewide to seven. Senior judges are former trial and appellate court judges who may be assigned on a temporary basis to any state court.
In addition to giving senior judge status to Circuit Court Judges Jon Kerry Blackwood, of Somerville, and Donald P. Harris, of Brentwood, the Supreme Court reappointed Senior Judge James L. Weatherford, 73, of Lawrenceburg. He has served as a senior judge since 1997 and was a Circuit Court judge for 19 years.
Blackwood, 57, will retire from his 25th Judicial District Circuit Court position effective Dec. 31 and become a senior judge Jan. 1. The 25th Judicial District includes Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale, McNairy and Tipton counties. Blackwood was appointed to the bench in 1985 by Gov. Lamar Alexander and has won election three times. He received a BS degree from Tennessee Technological University and a law degree from Memphis State School of Law. Before becoming a judge, he was in the private practice of law and served as an assistant district attorney. Blackwood said he and his wife, Julia, will move to Blount County after he becomes a senior judge.
Harris, 58, will continue to serve as a Circuit Court judge in the 21st Judicial District, including Williamson, Perry, Hickman and Lewis counties, until he assumes senior judge status Jan. 17. Harris earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee. He served as Municipal Court judge in Franklin in 1980-81 and has been a Circuit Court judge since 1986. His wife, Gayle, is coordinator of the district's drug court program.
Other senior judges are Allen Wallace of New Johnsonville, William Inman of Morristown and J.S. (Steve) Daniel and Jerry Scott, both of Murfreesboro.
Gov. Phil Bredesen will appoint Circuit Court successors to Blackwood and Harris. Information on the process for filing the vacancies is available on the court system website at www.tsc.state.tn.us.
(11/16/2004)
About 30 children clutching teddy bears, along with their new families,
will be the focus of legal proceedings in Memphis Saturday, Nov.
20, presided over by Chancellor Arnold Goldin, who will open the
courthouse doors to legalize their adoptions.
As part of National Adoption Day, the chancellor will bring permanency
to the lives of the children. In ceremonies beginning at 9 a.m.
and lasting until noon, Goldin will make their adoptions final and
legal and present them with special Adoption Day teddy bears and “New
Family” certificates.
“Preparations are under way for a fun event next Saturday,” said
Goldin, who had a similar, but smaller, ceremony last year. “We
have a banner prepared and will be serving refreshments in the lobby
outside the courtroom. Our staff is very excited and we’re looking
forward to playing a role in changing the lives of these children and
their new families.”
Goldin said adoptions always are the most uplifting part of his
job because everyone walks out of the courtroom with a smile. Many
of the adoptees who come before Goldin and other judges across Tennessee
throughout the year have spent most of their young lives in state
custody. In Tennessee, approximately 10,000 children are in foster
care. Of those, 1,040 are eligible for adoption, including 388 with
no prospective families identified. Nationwide there are 126,000
foster children in need of adoptive families.
National Adoption Month in November and National Adoption Day were
designed to facilitate the adoption of foster children and bring
attention to their plight. Attorneys, judges, foster care professionals
and child advocates join forces during November to encourage the
adoptions of children needing permanent homes. In 2003, more than
3,100 adoptions were finalized nationwide on National Adoption Day.
Goldin said in some cases, parents have voluntarily given up the
children, but others have had their parental rights terminated by
the courts because of child abuse or neglect.
(11/15/2004)
The names of more than 200 Tennessee appellate court judges who have served since 1796 when the state was founded are etched on imported black marble plaques to be unveiled at a 2 p.m. public ceremony, Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the Historic U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building on Main Street in Knoxville .
The Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society and other donors provided funds for the plaques, which were designed by state architect Mike Fitts and etched in Tennessee . The plaques will hang in the appellate court room on the second floor.
The Historical Society, a non-profit organization created in 1995 by volunteers wanting to preserve the court’s history, also produced a book, “A History of the Tennessee Supreme Court.” Copies provided by the Frist Foundation are being donated to every high school library in the state.
“Until the Historical Society was formed, there were very limited and scattered sources of information about the history of the Supreme Court and the other appellate courts in Tennessee,” said Executive Director Gil Campbell. “The legal system has played – and continues to play – a vital role in the state. It is important to gather and preserve its history.”
The plaques list Supreme Court justices from 1835 to the present; Court of Appeals members from 1925 to the present; Superior Court of Law and Equity members, including Andrew Jackson, from 1796 to 1809; judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals from 1810 to 1835; Court of Chancery Appeals judges from 1895 to 1907; Court of Civil Appeals members from 1907 to 1925; and Court of Criminal Appeals judges from 1967 to the present.
Members and former members of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals will attend the ceremony.
(10/19/2004)
Sullivan County Juvenile Court Judge Steven Jones of Kingsport and Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons of Memphis have been appointed to the federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The 18-member council coordinates federal juvenile delinquency programs, federal programs and activities that detain or care for juveniles and federal programs related to missing and exploited children. Stevens and Gibbons will be working with leading policymakers from nine federal agencies and departments.
The Tennessee representatives were appointed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
(10/05/2004)
When Circuit Court Judge William Acree, Jr., of Union City took the lead to establish a drug court in his rural 27th Judicial District, marijuana and cocaine users were the impetus. Now, less than two years later, he said meth is the leading drug of choice for defendants accepted into the program.
"When we started, we'd heard of meth, but that was about it," Acree said. "Today, 37 percent of those in our program are involved with meth. In about a third of the cases, the drug is cocaine."
To learn how drug courts across the nation are dealing with the methamphetamine explosion and how his program might be improved, Acree is attending Drug Court Judicial Training this week at the National Judicial College in Nevada. His tuition and expenses for the National Drug Court Institute course are covered by a scholarship from the State Justice Institute.
"I want to see if there are things we need to be doing differently and get some different ideas," Acree said.
Acree said about 30 convicted felons are in the 27th Judicial District program now. To be successful, participants go through a step process, which involves staying "clean and sober." They visit a treatment provider four days a week during the first phase and, if they do well, the number of visits gradually decreases. Additionally, they have to appear in court one day a week so the judge can determine for himself whether they are in compliance with the rules.
"We don't put them on judicial diversion," Acree said. "We've got all kinds of people in our program. We don't cherry pick them."
Acree and a drug court team, including a general sessions judge, the district attorney, a public defender, the sheriffs of Obion and Weakley counties, a probation representive and treatment providers, meet weekly to review each case to "see if anyone has messed up."
"If they have, there are appropriate sanctions. If not, we applaud them," he said.
The program has had five graduates, with more anticipated, he said. If nothing else, Acree said drug courts and accompanying treatment are far more cost-effective than sending them to prison - about $9 per day for participants in his program compared to about $50 per day for prison inmates.
"We're tickled to death with our program," he said.
(10/04/2004)
Cocke County General Sessions Judge John A. Bell has been awarded the Bronze Star for his work in Iraq as the chief of the Northern Iraq Office of Judicial Operations (NIOJO).
Bell is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, serving in the 3397th Garrison Support Unit in Chattanooga. He was called to active duty in January, 2003, and served as chief of the Criminal Division at Fort Campbell until he was deployed to Iraq. During his service in Iraq, he supervised the judicial system for Northern Iraq and was responsible for 27 courthouses, 112 Iraqi judges - including 27 he participated in firing - prosecutors, and attorneys.
Bell said his mission as chief of NIOJO was to transform the judicial system in Northern Iraq from "a corrupt, broken and dysfunctional system into a system that is ethical, efficient, fair and worthy of emulation." His goals included rebuilding and modernizing courthouses; restructuring the courts, mentoring legal professionals and establishing "the rule of law as the foundational bedrock of society"
The Bronze Star was awarded to Bell for "meritorious service during combat operations as chief, Northern Iraq Office of Judicial Operations."
A narrative accompanying the Bronze Star said Bell "oversaw ground-breaking work in restoring the rule of law as a foundational touchstone of Iraqi society. In this effort, unguided by doctrine or history, John and his team set the standard throughout Iraq for the creation and validation of a new judicial system."
When he arrived in Iraq, Bell joined a small team of judge advocates and paralegals charged with creating a judicial system for the second largest city in the country and its outlying areas. He oversaw the development and maintenance of a court appointed attorney program designed to provide free counsel for indigent Iraqis accused of committing crimes. A small volunteer group initially is now comprised of over 700 trained and certified Iraqi attorneys, Bell said.
Bell also established a first-ever anti-corruption agency in the Nineveh Province. The agency will help insure that the Nineveh Province government does not return to a corrupt form, he said.
The Cocke County judge was instrumental in establishing due process rights for all suspects accused of committing crimes throughout Nineveh Province. The rights, modeled on the Miranda rights found in the United States, provide the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. Bell trained prosecutors, judges and defense counsel on the application and impact of the rights.
(10/01/2004)
A student from each of Tennessee's four law schools has been chosen to receive a scholarship from the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation
Mary Hamm, a student at the University of Tennessee College of Law, is recipient of the first annual $1,000 Houston M. Goddard Scholarship. Goddard, who died April 2, was presiding judge for the Tennessee Court of Appeals. He had served in the judiciary for nearly three decades and was a graduate of the UT College of Law.
The first annual $1,000 William H. Williams Scholarship has been awarded to Christopher Wilson of the Memphis College of Law. Williams, a retired Criminal Court judge in Memphis, died December 13, 2003. He was a member of the judiciary for nearly 30 years.
Other TJC Foundation scholarship winners are Mark Colter of the Nashville School of Law and Joni Poitier of the Vanderbilt University College of Law.
Trial and appellate court judges from across Tennessee established the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation in 1995 to provide need-based scholarships to law students in Tennessee. The foundation is supported entirely through private gifts, pledges, memorials, shirt and cap sales, and an annual golf tournament held in memory of the late Circuit Court Judge Dick Jerman, Jr., of Alamo, who died in 1999.