The numbers are in, and, according to election results provided by the Carroll County Election Commission late Thursday night, Huntingdon attorney Michael King has decisively won the race for Carroll County General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge over incumbent and longtime judge Larry Logan.
The final tally showed that King, who ran as an independent, received a total of 3,169 votes, while Logan, the Republican nominee, received 1,488 votes.
King will serve be serving out an eight-year term.
A Huntingdon resident, King, 46, is a partner at King and Thompson Attorneys at Law in Huntingdon, located on Paris Street just north of the court square. King also currently serves as the municipal attorney for Bruceton, Clarksburg, and New Johnsonville; attorney for the Huntingdon, Hollow Rock-Bruceton, South Carroll, and Paris Special School Districts; and also provides legal counsel for the West Tennessee, Clarksburg, and Cedar Grove Public Utility Districts.
In a recent interview, King said he hopes to continue in his private law practice, though he added that he may have to scale that back quite a bit as he focuses on his new position as judge.
In his private practice, King has focused mostly on civil cases, though he does have past experience with criminal law. He also serves as a family law mediator through the Tennessee Supreme Court and served for three years as chairman over the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, a role in which he wrote opinions regarding ethical rules for law practitioners and heard cases involving attorneys accused of violating ethics rules.
As judge, King said he intends to take advantage of more of available state services, seek more grant funding for improvements to the local court system and facilities, and also establish a two-docket system to minimize the time that both testifying officers and witnesses have to spend at the courthouse waiting for their cases to come up.
A 1993 graduate of Camden Central High School, King earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from UT Martin, and received his law degree and a doctorate of jurisprudence from the Mississippi College School of Law. He has been practicing law for nearly 22 years.
King and his wife of 22-years, Misty, have two children, including Hannah, 17, who is an upcoming senior at Huntingdon High School, and Wesley, 19, who is a sophomore at UT Knoxville.
Judge Logan, 76, has continuously served as judge over both General Sessions and Juvenile Court for the past 41 years, during which time he was instrumental in establishing Carroll Academy in Huntingdon, brought back a fulltime court schedule about 12 years ago, and has overseen numerous improvements and upgrades in the county’s courtrooms and court offices over the years.
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In a couple of other contested races for county offices, incumbent Sheriff Andy Dickson, who ran as an independent, kept his job for another four years, defeating Republican challenger Tim Pratt, and incumbent Register of Deeds Natalie McCullough Porter, who ran as a Democrat, prevailed over her only challenger, independent candidate Harold T. Smith, for another four-year term.
