Army Vet Kelly Mims Opposing Judge Donna Barnes for Court of Appeals
Tupelo lawyer Kelly Mims is challenging Judge Donna Barnes for her Mississippi Court of Appeals post for the Northern District. Judge Barnes has held the position since 2004.
Here is Mims' campaign website.
Mims is a 2000 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law. He has worked as a Lee County Public Defender and appears to have primarily practiced criminal defense in private practice. Ya'll Politics ran Mims' press release announcing his candidacy today.
Here is Judge Barnes' campaign website.
Although Mims does not have a track record as a judge, I suspect that he would be a moderate to conservative jurist. He appears to have a conservative background and served in the U.S. Army. His stint as a Public Defender is probably more of a reflection of wanting to get good experience as opposed to a statement of judicial or political values. His private practice has been in a small firm, which almost always results in representing more individuals than insurance companies and corporations.
Judge Barnes was originally appointed to the court and did not have an opponent in her only election. It remains to be seen how either Judge Barnes or Mims perform on the campaign trail. Contested judicial elections in Mississippi often come down to who campaigns the hardest. And by this I mean actually getting out and meeting voters. That could be the case with this one.
Mims: "“Our judges should follow and apply the law, not create it based on personal opinions."
Is he running against Judge Barnes because she has failed to follow and apply the law? Does he have any examples? Or does he just want to be a judge?
On inspecting Mims's website, I find he's even classier than I'd realized:
Kelly Mims believes that our Appeals Court Judges should not only be lawyers but also have real courtroom experience. Writing briefs for insurance companies is not good enough. Kelly Mims has spent the majority of his legal career dealing with Family Law Courts, Criminal Law Courts or Worker’s Compensation Hearings — the very kinds of cases that the Court of Appeals spends a majority of its time hearing. Kelly Mims is the only candidate in this race who has real experience arguing on behalf of clients in these types of courts or any courtroom for that matter.
From Judge Barnes's bio:
For more than 18 years, Judge Barnes practiced law with Mitchell, McNutt and Sams in Tupelo with concentrations in appellate practice, real estate, health care, employment discrimination, section 1983 litigation and professional liability defense.
Those cases aren't heard in courtrooms?
I have known Donna Barnes for over 25 years. I went to law school with her and worked with her at Mitchell, McNutt, Lagrone, and Sams while we were law students.
She is extraordinarily qualified for the Appellate bench because of her intellect and integrity.
As I Lawyer and a former law clerk to the Miss. Supreme Court, I know that all good lawyers will not make good appellate judges. Donna has an understanding of the law that few practitioners can claim. She graduated at the top of our lawschool class for good reason, and we would be fortunate to have all of our appellate judges with such ability as she possesses.
Read her opinions and then do all you can to keep her on the bench.