GENERAL SESSIONS JUDGE CANDIDATE
1. Give personal background
2. Give work background
3. Why did you decide to run?
4. What are the positives about being a judge?
5. Negatives about the job?
6. Any changes you would like to make?
7. Tell people why they should vote for you
1. I am a lifelong resident of Coffee County. My parents are Robert (Bob) Huskey, former JAG Officer and long time practicing attorney, and Sharon Turnbow Huskey (deceased). I am married to Kristi Davis Huskey and we have 2 beautiful children, Kylee, age 6 and Kasen, age 4. We are active members of Manchester First Baptist Church. Unlike many of the members of my chosen profession, I am a long standing active member with the Republican Party and I worked my first Republican Headquarters when I was 15 years old when George Bush was running for re-election against Bill Clinton. My wife and I were members of the Kiwanas Club in Manchester prior to having children. When not at work, most of my time is spent doing things with my children. I have had the pleasure of being close friends with Coach Will Albaugh and got to help him with the Tullahoma Girls Volleyball Team. I considered this an honor because he is a true legend in volleyball (which I love) in Middle Tennessee and also any students he taught during his tenure at THS. I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, a minor in Psychology and an emphasis in Political Science and then went on to Nashville School of Law where I graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 2006.
2. I began working part time in my father’s law office when I was 13 and that began with making copies, organizing books and later graduated to issues such as covering docket calls, serving subpoenas to eventually doing witness and evidence coordination in lengthy federal trials. In 2006 I graduated law school and passed the bar and began practicing as an attorney at that time. Since that time I have handled any number of types of trials in all Coffee County and most surrounding counties and courts. I have practiced in the State Court of Appeals, the State Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee.
3. As far as why I decided to run for Judge, I think it is probably always in the back of an attorney’s mind from the time they begin practicing, because you see clients come in with cases and you have developed deep feelings about what should really happen in this case and what would be fair and right for the people involved and we negotiate and litigate at the behest of our clients and sometimes you get results you are very pleased with for your clients and sometimes you don’t, but you are always arguing for your clients’ best interest and as a Judge you get to do what you feel is the most fair and balanced for everybody involved. So in 2014 I was approached by members of the Republican Party about running and after much weighing, deliberating, talking to my family and prayer, I decided to run and from that point I realized that that is something I really felt strongly about doing and planned to run again when the position became available.
4. Well, the positives of being judge are very similar to the reason I decided to run. To be able to help do what is the best thing for everybody involved in different situations – be that a fair resolution in a civil matter, looking out for the County’s interests, victim’s interest, and even overall the best interest of a defendant in criminal matters and trying to provide and insure the best outcome for children in Juvenile Court.
5. The biggest negative about this job is the stress and the worry hoping that you did the best possible thing you could for all parties involved and to that matter all you can really do is pray for guidance and hope you make the best decisions. As an attorney, you stress and worry about getting the best result for your client moving through the process, but in most cases that ends after the process is over. As a Judge I think that is when your worry would start and will probably stay with you forever. There is a reason why Solomon asked God for wisdom above all else and I think that is all you can do as a Judge is to apply the law to the facts as best you can and pray you do the right thing for everybody’s interest.
6. The Sessions Judge 1 and 2 are the same offices on paper. They cover the exact same things. How they have been divided is between what Judge Brock and Judge Ledsinger worked out. As obviously the senior judge I would largely defer to Judge Ledsinger and how he wanted to do the division of caseload. I personally have expressed interest in seeing Sessions Court handled some divorce cases, which has met with great disagreement among the other three (3) candidates. The fact of the matter is, Sessions Court has been approved for years to be handling those cases, they just typically don’t do them. As a matter of fact, Sessions Court Judge is actually paid an increased amount specifically to handle divorce cases, so if they are not going to be handled that may need to be looked at.
7. General Sessions Court in Coffee County handles a wide range of cases. In 2019 they had almost 7,000 traffic matters in court, over 4,000 criminal matters, just under 4,000 civil matters, child support issues, orders of Protection, Juvenile Delinquency (not included in criminal court) and delinquent and neglect cases. Throughout my practice, I have dealt with all these types of cases in numerous courts. My familiarity with court and legal system began when I was in middle school and most of my schooling has been focused toward the practice of law. I’m not the cool kid in class; I don’t socialize with the members of the bar, and I pretty much do family, work and church. I ask for your support in this election and I will always be praying and striving to make sure I do the best for the people of this county.
