Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Hamilton County lead prosecutor Lila Statom as a General Sessions Court judge.
"I'm very happy, I'm very pleased with the governor's decision," she said.
Statom will replace Judge Ron Durby, who left the bench for medical reasons Oct. 4. She said she got the call from the governor's office around 3:45 p.m. Friday.
She hopes to be sworn in as soon as possible.
"I'm ready to go to work very quickly," she said.
Statom holds a master's in law from Emory University and spent nine years working with the district attorney in Nashville before moving to Chattanooga in 1998.
She's been the lead prosecutor in General Session Court for the last seven years.
"It will be a very different role than I have been in before," she said. "I'm a career prosecutor, however, I feel that my training as a prosecutor has prepared me to step right into this position."