TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Amelia Ferrell Knisely on Mar 4, 2016

Former General Sessions Court Judge Mattie Joyce Mills Ward-Spradlin died Wednesday at 73 after a lengthy illness, the Citizen Tribune reports. Ward was first appointed as a General Sessions judge in 1978 to fill out an unexpired term and was the first woman to hold a general sessions judgeship in Hamblen County. She was instrumental in the creation of the county’s Recovery Drug Court program and remained in the position until her retirement. “Morristown is a better place because of Joyce,” said Third Circuit Criminal Court Judge John Dugger.