Metro Council will pick someone to succeed Jim Todd next month.
Image: The Justice A. A. Birch Building, where the Davidson County General Sessions Court is housed. Image Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner
**Note from The Tennessee Conservative – This article posted here for informational purposes only.
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by Stephen Elliott, [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –
Five people have been nominated to fill the vacancy on the Davidson County General Sessions Court left by Judge Jim Todd, who was recently appointed to a seat on the Davidson County Criminal Court.
Here are the candidates:
- C. Michael Robinson is a University of Tennessee law grad who has practiced in Nashville since 2016. He was nominated by Nashville attorney Worrick Robinson IV.
- Mark Andrew Cole Sr. is a former attorney for the state of Tennessee who was nominated by Councilmember Russ Bradford.
- Jodie Bell is a Nashville defense attorney who has represented defendants in high-profile cases. She is married to David Briley, the former Nashville mayor who now is a judge on the Davidson County Circuit Court. Bell has advocated for increased indigent defense funding. She was nominated by Metro Councilmember Jacob Kupin.
- Leroy Ellis is a Nashville attorney who nominated himself.
- David Jones has worked in the office of the Davidson County District Attorney General for nine years, as an assistant district attorney and director of community engagement. He attended law school at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and has taught at Belmont University. He considered running in the special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Mark Green. He was nominated by Metro Councilmember Kyonzté Toombs.
Nominees now have three days to file their resume and a completed questionnaire with the Metro Clerk. Candidates will appear before the Metro Council Rules, Confirmations and Public Elections Committee on Nov. 14, before a full Metro Council vote on the appointment on Nov. 18.
Gov. Bill Lee announced the criminal court appointment of Todd, a Democrat, last month, with the judge filling the seat left by the retired Cheryl Blackburn. Todd will have to run for election next year to remain on the bench, and he has already tapped Marjorie Pomeroy-Wallace, a former top aide to Mayor Freddie O’Connell, as his campaign treasurer. Todd, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, had been a General Sessions judge since 2022.
General Sessions is a limited-jurisdiction court that handles lower-level civil matters, Metro ordinance violations and preliminary hearings and some trials in certain criminal cases.
