Judge J. Randall Wyatt Jr. ’66 has announced that he will retire from his position with the Davidson County Criminal Court in Nashville, effective Sept. 1. Judge Wyatt has served as a Davidson County judge for 43 years.
Judge Wyatt was first elected to a seat on the Davidson County General Sessions Court in 1974 and served there for eight years before his election to the Davidson County Criminal Court in 1982. He was most recently re-elected to his seat on that court in 2014. His current term would have expired in 2022.
Before he was elected as a judge, he worked as an assistant district attorney, a Nashville police officer and an FBI special agent in Minneapolis and Detroit. “I will miss being in our court, but the time is right for me to retire,” said Judge Wyatt, who is 79.
“More than any judge I know, Randall Wyatt has been the rare combination of legal excellence and sensitivity to the rights of all people while on the bench,” said Edward Yarbrough ’72, former U.S. Attorney for the MIddle District of Tennessee. “His long, distinguished career is a wonderful example for other jurists to follow.”
A Nashville native, Judge Wyatt graduated from Father Ryan High School and then served for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps before earning his undergraduate degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1964.