The 12-member Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has elected Judge Joseph M. Tipton of Knoxville as its presiding judge.
As presiding judge, Tipton will be responsible for setting court dockets, including determining who will serve on the court’s three-member panels, where they will sit and when. The court, which considers appeals in criminal cases, meets in panels of three in Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson. Panels also hear cases in other areas of the state as part of educational programs.
The presiding judge determines how many cases will be heard in each session and monitors the dockets. Tipton will preside over court meetings, serve on various court-related commissions and committees and assign other members of the court to serve.
“I appreciate the confidence my colleagues on the court have shown in me by electing me presiding judge,” Tipton said. “Serving on the court is a high honor and privilege. Serving as its presiding judge is even more so.”
Tipton, 59, succeeds Justice Gary R. Wade as presiding judge. Wade was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The new presiding judge was appointed to Court of Criminal Appeals in 1990. He was elected in 1992 and was reelected to eight-year terms in 1998 and 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he was Order of the Coif and later served as an adjunct professor.