Governor Phil Bredesen has appointed Kenneth F. Irvine Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn., to fill the vacancy on the Knox County Criminal Court, Division II. The vacancy was created by the death of Judge Ray Lee Jenkins. Bredesen first appointed Irvine as Special Judge in August to fill the seat on a temporary basis.
Prior to his appointment as Special Judge in August, Irvine served as an assistant district attorney since 2006 and was an assistant public defender from 2004 to 2006. After graduating from the University of Tennessee School of Law in Knoxville, he clerked for former Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joseph B. Jones and practiced law in the private sector.