Judge Raymond Lepone was appointed to the 30th Judicial District Criminal Court, which covers Shelby County, by Governor Bill Lee on August 29. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Paula Skahan. Although he has a new title, Judge Lepone is no stranger to the criminal court.
“I was pretty much thinking back to the first time I entered this building at 201 in October of 2000 as a young assistant district attorney going into the general sessions court and obviously was thinking about my journey that led me up on that stage as the new judge in Division 1,” said Judge Lepone. “There were 10 criminal court divisions, and I tried major cases in front of all the judges in those 10 divisions.
Prior to taking the Criminal Court bench, Judge Lepone was a juvenile court magistrate, presiding over delinquency, custody, visitation, and dependency and neglect dockets.
“For two years I had been in the judicial role so to speak, in a black robe having to make decisions,” he said. “So I went into this knowing that I was going to another level of difficult decision making. I was certainly drawing on that prior judicial experience to get me through my first day. Very nervous, of course. Nervous in that you’re starting a brand-new job.”
Judge Lepone pursued a legal career later than most. He said his uncle, a police officer in Philadelphia, inspire him to serve.
“He would always be in his uniform and tell me Batman and Robin stories because I was young. He always explained his job as trying to keep people safe and help people. When I went to law school, I knew I wanted to be a prosecutor and that’s exactly what I did.”
Judge Lepone is a graduate of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and Kennesaw State University.
After the swearing in ceremony September 22, 2025, Lepone said it took a couple hours for him to feel calm on the bench.
“I have a healthy fear of it,” he said. “Not a paralyzing fear, but a respectful fear of the role being fulfilling as a criminal court judge here in Shelby County. I’ve always looked at the kind of different roles I’ve had as a calling more than a career and I would say being on the bench in a criminal court after all my years in this building at 201, I’m starting to get the feeling that this was the right decision.”
