Joe Brown (judge) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Judge Joe Brown
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| Born |
Joseph Blakeney Brown Jr.
July 5, 1947 Washington, D.C., U.S.
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| Other names | Judge Joe Brown |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA, JD) |
| Spouse(s) |
Deborah Herron
(m. 2001; div. 2017) |
| Children | 2 |
Joseph Blakeney Brown Jr. (born July 5, 1947), known professionally as Judge Joe Brown, is an American former lawyer and television personality. He is a former Shelby County, Tennessee Criminal Court judge and a former arbiter of the arbitration-based reality court show Judge Joe Brown.
Early life and education
Raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Brown graduated as valedictorian from Dorsey High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. While attending law school, Brown worked as a substitute teacher. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Brown has spoken about how his upbringing shaped his philosophy.
Career
After graduating from law school, Brown moved to Memphis, Tennessee to work as an attorney for the Legal Services Corporation. Brown later worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By 1978, Brown became the first African-American prosecutor in Memphis, and he later directed the Memphis public defender's office. He would later open his own law practice before being elected as a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee in 1990. .....
Brown was thrust into the national spotlight while presiding over James Earl Ray's last appeal of his conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Brown was removed from the reopened investigation of King's murder due to alleged bias. It was during this time that Brown caught the attention of the producers of Judge Judy.
In March 2014, Brown won the Democratic primary for the position of Shelby County district attorney. .....
In August 2015, Brown served five days in the Shelby County Jail after having been held in contempt of court in March 2014. Brown apparently raised his voice and interrupted a magistrate judge while representing a woman seeking child support in Shelby County Juvenile Court. Brown claimed that the sentence was excessive, and that he should have only been fined; Harold Horne, the Shelby County Juvenile Court chief magistrate that found Brown in contempt, responded that "This is not Hollywood. This is the real thing and as an officer of the court he should have known better."
Responding to a bar discipline complaint filed regarding the contempt incident, Brown declared himself unable to adequately defend himself as a result of health issues, including type II diabetes, hypertension, and stress. His law license was entered on the disability inactive list (suspending his ability to practice law in Tennessee), and the discipline case was placed on indefinite hold until such a time as Brown is healthy enough to face the complaint.
Brown was an Independent candidate for the 2023 Memphis mayoral election. He finished 7th.
Personal life
Brown is twice divorced and has two sons from his first marriage.
