Public Defender Marshall seeks re-election in 2014

Anderson County Public Defender Tom Marshall has announced that he will seek re-election to a fourth eight-year term in 2014.

Marshall has served as Anderson County public defender since 1989, and he is also an adjunct law professor at Roane State Community College.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina School Of Law, Marshall was appointed Anderson County public defender by Gov. Ned McWherter in 1989, a press release said. He was then elected by Anderson County voters in 1990 and re-elected in 1998 and 2006.

Marshall is also a graduate of the U.S. Army JAGC School Advanced Course in Charlottesville, Va. He was an officer in the U.S. Army JAG Corps on active duty from 1977 until 1985, stationed both in the United States and Germany. Marshall also supervised the prosecutor’s office as chief of criminal law at Fort Jackson, S.C. Marshall is now a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The public defender represents all indigent criminal defendants in the various courts of Anderson County. Marshall, who supervises four attorneys and three investigators who are also paralegals, is recognized as one of the best public defenders in Tennessee with more than 70 years of legal experience on his current staff, the press release said. Marshall is qualified to represent defendants in death penalty cases.

Marshall is slated to serve as president of the Tennessee Public Defenders Conference from 2014 until 2015. He formerly served as president of the Conference from 2004 until 2005. This organization is responsible for the administration and training of public defenders across Tennessee.

Marshall also serves as a member of the Anderson County Community Corrections Board and as a member of the Anderson County Drug Court Team.

A member of First Baptist Church in Clinton, he has served as a deacon since 2004. Marshall has been active in the Claxton Optimist Club and Habitat for Humanity, and he is the chairman of the board for ADFAC. He also serves the community as a Junior Achievement instructor in local schools, the release said.

Tom lives in Clinton with his wife Pat Marshall.