In appointing a judge for the 11th Judicial District Criminal Court last summer, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam - in an unusual move - asked for a second list of names from his Council for Judicial Appointments.
From that list, he selected Tom Greenholtz, then an attorney with the law firm Chambliss Bahner & Stophel, for the Hamilton County position left vacant when Judge Rebecca Stern resigned on June 1. Two of the names on the first list given to the governor were prosecutor Boyd Patterson and Deputy Public Defender Mike Little.
Now, to fill the rest of Stern's unexpired term, Greenholtz, Patterson and Little are all running for the judgeship in the March 1 Republican primary. Since no Democrat qualified to run, the primary winner is all but assured of winning the general election in August.
We believe Haslam made an excellent appointment in Greenholtz, and he should keep his seat.
Since taking the bench five months ago, Greenholtz has won praise from attorneys, co-workers and those who have occasion to be in his courtroom. And, in a Chattanooga Bar Association poll released in December, his judicial temperament and legal ability were ranked superior by 81.48 percent of those voting.
Greenholtz, in an effort to save the time of those who come to court, has mainstreamed the docket system in his Criminal Court division and is in the process of bringing other technology upgrades online. He also has increased participation in Drug Court, which was begun by Stern, more than 30 percent.
What happens with individuals who are approved for Drug Court, he said, can have "results throughout the system." It's an "opportunity to be on the front end" where real personal change can be made.
Before joining Chambliss Bahner (where he worked on some open records cases for the Times Free Press), Greenholtz worked as an associate attorney for Shumacker Witt Gaither & Whitaker and as an associate attorney for Summers & Wyatt. Following graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1999, he clerked for Tennessee Supreme Court Judge William M. "Mickey" Barker of Signal Mountain.
Both Patterson and Little, like Greenholtz, have inspirational backstories. Both are second-career attorneys, both have extensive experience in Criminal Court, both have ideas they'd like to implement to improve the court, and both have aspects of their careers, as does Greenholtz, that enhance their preparation for judge.
Patterson designed the county's first gang prosecution program, is a published author of a book detailing Tennessee cases revolving around a certain type of evidence admissibility and created a cellphone app lawyers can use in jury selection. Little, meanwhile, has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, spent 17 years in private practice and now has helped shape the Public Defender's office under Steve Smith.
Haslam would have made a sound choice in selecting either Patterson or Little as judge, but we believe Greenholtz's work on the bench since being appointed as well as his vision for the court's direction validate the governor's ultimate pick.