Haslam Appoints Montgomery to Court of Criminal Appeals

Appointee will replace retiring Judge Joseph Tipton

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has chosen Robert (Rob) H. Montgomery Jr. as a judge for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Eastern Section.  Montgomery will replace Joseph M. Tipton, who will retire at the conclusion of his current term.

“Rob Montgomery will be an excellent judge,” Haslam said. “His experience on the bench, as well as his experience as an assistant district attorney and an attorney in private practice will serve East Tennesseans well.”

Montgomery, 59, has been a criminal court judge in the Second Judicial District since 2006. He was assistant district attorney general in Sullivan County from 1987-2006 and an unemployment appeals referee in the Department of Employment Security in Kingsport, Morristown, Johnson City and Knoxville from 1986-1987. Montgomery was in private practice as an attorney in Kingsport from 1979-1986.

“I am honored and humbled by the trust that the governor has placed in me,” Montgomery said.  “I look forward to serving the citizens of East Tennessee as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeals.”

Montgomery currently serves as vice president and legislative committee chair of the Tennessee Judicial Conference. He was a faculty member for the Borkenstein Course on Alcohol and Highway Safety at Indiana University from 2001-2013 and was an instructor and trainer for the National District Attorneys Association and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1993-2006. He has been a member of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission since 2012. Montgomery won the President’s Award from the Tennessee District Attorney’s Conference in 2005.

Montgomery received his juris doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1979. He received a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in 1975. He and his wife, Jamie, live in Kingsport and have a son in high school.