Court of Criminal Appeals Judge David G. Hayes will retire from the appellate bench June 12 to become one of Tennessee’s five senior judges.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the citizens of this state for the past 32 years in the positions of District Attorney General, Circuit Judge and currently as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeals,” Hayes wrote in a letter to Gov. Phil Bredesen.
Senior judges are former trial and appellate court judges who may be assigned on a temporary basis to any state court.
Chief Justice William M. Barker described Hayes as being “among the finest judges in Tennessee.”
“I know he will be sorely missed by his colleagues on the Court of Criminal Appeals,” Barker said. “His devotion to the law and to the judicial system are two of the qualities that make him an outstanding judge. We are grateful to Judge Hayes for agreeing to continue his judicial service as a senior judge.”
Hayes, 64, who recently moved to Camden, was appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in April 1994 and was elected to the unexpired term the same year. He was reelected to an 8-year term in 1998 and again in 2006.
He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee and his law degree from the University of Mississippi.
Hayes, a sixth-generation Tennessean, served as a staff attorney for the Exxon Corporation in Houston, TX, for two years and was a partner in a Union City law firm for six years before being elected district attorney general. In 1990, he was appointed and later elected as a Circuit Court judge, a position he held until his appointment to the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Information on the process for filling Hayes’ Court of Criminal Appeals seat can be found on the court system website at www.tncourts.gov.