Judge Mark Ward was appointed Judge of Division IX of the Shelby County Criminal Court by the Governor of Tennessee in 2004 and was elected to that position by the people of Shelby County in 2006 and in 2014, where he currently serves.  Judge Ward received his undergraduate degree in Law Enforcement and his Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Memphis.  He also holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Memphis Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. 

Judge Ward has over 40 years experience in criminal justice.  He served as law clerk to Presiding Judge Mark A. Walker of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee from 1979 to 1981.  From 1981 to 2004 Judge Ward practiced law in Memphis as a private practitioner and as an Assistant Public Defender.   From 1996 to 2001 he served as an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis.  In 2000, he litigated the case of Rogers v. Tennessee, which he argued before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.  Judge Ward currently teaches Criminal Procedure II as an Adjunct Instructor at the School of Law at the University of Memphis.  He is the author of numerous publications, including Tennessee Criminal Trial Practice, published by West Publishing Company, which is designed to serve the needs of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys and is known in Tennessee as the authoritative treatise on criminal trial practice.

During his tenure on the bench the Memphis Bar Association has twice conducted Evaluations of the 84 federal, state, county and municipal judges in Shelby County. In both evaluations, Judge Ward was the “Highest Rated Judge in Shelby County” for his overall job performance.  He has also been selected “Judge of the Year” by the Criminal Law Section of the Memphis Bar Association.  In addition to his performance on the bench, Judge Ward actively devotes a great deal of time to the betterment of the legal profession. He teaches Criminal Procedure II at the University of Memphis and was selected by the students in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2020 as the “Adjunct Professor of the Year.” He frequently is called upon to lecture attorneys and fellow judges at continuing legal education seminars. Currently he is the Co-chair of the Tennessee Judicial Conference Pattern Jury Instruction Committee; and serves as a Liason to the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

As a practicing lawyer, Judge Ward served as the Chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Tennessee Bar Association, President of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Memphis Bar Association.  In 1998 he was declared “Public Service Attorney of the Year” by the Tennessee Bar Association.

Judge Ward is a native Memphian and is a product of the Memphis City School System.  He has actively participated in various civic programs such as Habitat for Humanity and the Adopt-A-School Program at Peabody Elementary and Hanley Elementary Schools. He has also served as a member of the Kiwanis Club of Memphis and served on the Board of Dismas House Inc. and The Community Legal Center, where he served as Chairman of the Board for two years.  He has been a member of both Lindenwood Christian Church and Calvary Episcopal Church, where he served as a Sunday School teacher, Youth Leader, Lay Reader and Lay Eucharistic Minister.

Year Elected/Appointed

1994

Previous Employment

Managed family farm in Proctor, Arkansas, 1971-1975
Private practice in firm of Craft & Craft, 1978-1982
Assistant District Attorney, 1982- 1994
Senior Trial Prosecutor in Major Violators Unit, 1991-1994 
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Memphis Law School, 2001- present

Education

Graduate work at Memphis Theological Seminary in Law and Religion – 1980-1982

University of Memphis, J.D. 1978

University of Memphis, B.A. in Psychology, Minor in Religion 1975

Vanderbilt University, 1969-1973

Honors

Appointed Shelby County Criminal Court Judge in 1994 and reelected three times, serving as judge in a special prosecution court handling major violators and career felony offenders.  

Membership(s)

• Vice-President, Tennessee Judicial Conference
• Chairman, Tennessee Private Probation Services Council
• Dean, Tennessee Judicial Academy – attended by all newly elected and appointed judges (municipal, juvenile, county and state courts) for orientation and training in the law, procedure and ethics concerning their new duties
• Chairman, Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee (for last 10 years)
• Fellow, Memphis Bar Foundation
• Vice-president of Leo Bearman Chapter of the American Inns of Court
• Founding member, Shelby County Domestic Violence Council
• Founding member, Memphis Leadership Foundation – 1986 to present
• Founding member of board of directors of Synergy – an in-house substance abuse treatment program for those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol

Community Involvement

Member of Second Presbyterian Church for 40 years:

• Deacon, 1980-86
• Elder, 1986 to present
• Senior High youth leader and Young Life leader, 1974-1984
• Adult Sunday School teacher, 1984 to present

WHERE I COME FROM

I’m from a farming family in Crockett County in West Tennessee. I received a scholarship to study undergraduate at the University of Memphis and another scholarship for law school there. Because of my studies of Spanish, I had the opportunity to spend time in Venezuela, Chile, and Puerto Rico.

Upon graduating law school and passing the Tennessee Bar Exam, I have spent my entire adult life in Shelby County. I am married to Soheila Kail, we have four adult children and two grandchildren.

A THRIVING CAREER

• 1984-2022— I have continuously handled private cases in Crockett, Gibson, Haywood, Tipton, and Shelby Counties. I have served as a private arbitrator and mediator of labor disputes on countless occasions. Much of my legal work was Pro Bono for clients dealing with Blight and Criminal activities. As a speaker of Spanish, I represented many Hispanic workers throughout my career and still do. I traveled frequently during these years to Puerto Rico to represent property owners.

• 1984 thru 1991—Legal Counsel /Negotiator/lobbyist for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #474, OPEIU (professional workers) and other Craft unions. I worked closely with City and County Code enforcement agencies and lobbied the State legislature for code legislation issues. In 1991, I worked in Japan to lobby for an expansion of Sharp Manufacturing.

• 1992 thru 2014—Appointed to many different positions due to promotions under 4 different Shelby, County Mayors. Positions of Chief Negotiator/ Administrator of the Human Resources/Labor Relations Attorney/Ethics Trainer for all elected officials/Secretary of the Civil Service Merit Board covering 6000 employees/ Secretary of the Retirement System/ Counsel to all elected officials concerning labor and employment policies.

• 2014-2018– Chief Administrator of the Criminal Court Clerk’s office.

• 2018 -2022- Private Practice Owner /Operator of Kail Properties. I handle a wide array of cases throughout West Tennessee. Many cases are Pro Bono. (I was awarded the Pro Bono Award by the Supreme Court for 2021)

• Memphis Bar Association member for 37 years/ Society of Human Resource Management/ CLE instructor for the Ben Jones Chapter of the Bar Association/ For 22 years I have taught law courses for Lemoyne Owen College, Webster University, and Park University (Navy College). A frequent speaker on legal issues at various clubs and groups.

FIGHT BLIGHT!

On day one our mission will be to bring relief to neighborhoods. We must immediately address the number of abandoned homes that have been vacant for years.

Endorsements Include

Shelby County Republican Party

Shelby County Democratic Party

Shelby County Young  Democrats

Since 1992 he has been a member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which has over one-thousand practicing criminal defense attorneys as members throughout the state. He has been a board member of the Shelby County Drug Court Foundation for over 20 years. He is also a member of the Memphis Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

In addition to serving the community through involvement in legal organizations,Joe Ozment has also helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Shelby County Drug Court Foundation and has helped raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for other local charitable causes through his involvement with local charitable groups such as The Mystic Krewe of Pegasus.

Joe Ozment is the current President of the Shelby County Drug Court Foundation, has been on its board for over 20 years and has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the Shelby County Drug Court provide drug and alcohol treatment to addicts and save their lives.

He is a Past-President of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a Past-President of the Criminal Law Section of the Memphis Bar Association and current President of a local charitable group, The Mystic Krewe of Pegasus, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for other local charities.

Over his 30 years of law practice Joe Ozment has represented thousands of clients in Tennessee courts. His extensive criminal trial experience, including the litigation of capital cases and is one of the limited number of Rule (13) capital qualified attorneys that is eligible for appointment to represent individuals charged with the death penalty. 

He attended and graduated from the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia in 1993. Joe Ozment also has extensive experience in appeals to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Tennessee Supreme Court and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and has won a number of appeals and had cases reversed out of all of those Courts.

I wanted to give everyone an idea of who I am, where I’ve been and why I believe that I am the right choice to be Judge in Shelby County General Sessions Court, Division 11. I believe that my experience on every side of the criminal justice system gives me a unique perspective.

I am currently an Assistant District Attorney General with the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office, assigned to the Special Prosecution Unit. I have considerable experience as a trial and appellate attorney, as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. I have tried criminal cases, in both state and federal court, in multiple jurisdictions. I have been defense counsel in over 40 murder cases. The State of Tennessee filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty in seven of these cases. None of my former trial court clients are on death row.

I have also been counsel of record, or have written briefs, for over 100 appeals, including two death penalty appeals, before the Tennessee state appellate courts. I have been counsel of record on numerous appellate matters before the Sixth and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeal. I have published opinions in both the Sixth and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeal and the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Additionally, I am a Post Certified Lieutenant and legal instructor with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. I teach constitutional law, civil liability, juvenile law and general Tennessee criminal law to law enforcement professionals employed in, and around, Fayette County, Tennessee. I have also been an instructor with Training Resource Group, training law enforcement professionals in continued in service requirements. I have taught classes for the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Officers Association as well.

I am a veteran having served in the U. S. Navy, U.S. Navy Reserves and the Tennessee State Guard. While in the U.S. Navy I served on board USS Ranger CV-61. In the Navy Reserves I was assigned to USS Copeland FFG-25 and Special Boat Unit 13. I retired from the Tennessee State Guard in 2013, with my final posting as the Commanding Officer, First Regiment, Tennessee State Guard, headquartered at Naval Support Activity in Millington, Tennessee.

This is just a brief overview of my experiences. I will be posting my complete resume shortly. I would greatly appreciate your support and vote. #JET4Judge