The public is invited to attend the swearing in ceremony of Thomas Baldwin as Carter County Special District Judge at 9 a.m. Monday in District Judge Tom Walker’s courtroom, located on the third floor of the Carter County Courthouse.
Baldwin was selected from a field of 21 candidates to take the special district judge’s bench being vacated by retiring Special District Judge Charles Tate. Walker will conduct the ceremony, which will be followed by a reception.
“I will be pleased and honored to participate in the ceremony for Judge Baldwin,” Walker said Friday. “He is hard working and studious. Like his predecessor, he is an honorable person, who brings dignity and humility to the judiciary. I have every confidence in him and his dedication to ensuring that all who come before him will be judged fairly, according to the law.”
Walker announced Baldwin would become the new Special District Judge Sept. 15, saying “The applications were reviewed by a screening committee of four. In addition, I solicited input from Judges (John) Scaggs, (Lee) Card and Tate.” The Ardmore attorney’s selection was then confirmed by the South-Central Judicial Administrative District. (The SCJAD includes district judges in Carter, Johnston, Love, Marshall, Murray, Cleveland, McClain, Garvin, Seminole, Pontotoc and Hughes counties.)
Baldwin told The Ardmoreite he decided to seek the judgeship after much soul searching.
“It was an agonizing decision,” he said, adding he had “loved” his job at First National Bank and Trust and the bank’s employees. “However, as an attorney the opportunity to be a judge is one most attorney’s aspire to. In the end I felt this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.”
The newest member of the Carter County judiciary pledged to take the special district judge’s bench, “... with hard work, fairness and impartiality. I will run the courtroom with dignity and integrity. I want to see justice served and to make the citizens proud of me.”
Baldwin comes to the job with a wide variety of legal experience, including stints in both the civil and criminal justice systems. He will officially take on his judicial duties Tuesday.
Marhsa Miller
221-6529
