Lewis and Perry Counties have a new Public Defender

A Lawrenceburg-based lawyer is now the public's defense attorney for Lewis and Perry counties in Hohenwald and Linden.

"I have just taken a job as an assistant public defender in the 21st Judicial District," said William J. "Bill" Eledge who was hired by 21st Judicial District Public Defender Greg Burlison.

Eledge "started the first of this month," Burlison said. As an assistant public defender in Lewis and Perry counties, Eledge succeeds Beverly White, Burlison said. "White has moved to the public defender's office in the 22nd District working in Giles County."

Nearly a decade ago, Eledge was an assistant district attorney for Mike Bottoms, Burlison said. In 2014, Bottoms was succeeded by 22nd Judicial District Attorney Brent Cooper of Summertown who serves Giles, Lawrence Wayne and Maury counties.

As an investigator in the Drug Enforcement Division of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) in 1993-1995, Eledge planned, coordinated and conducted undercover drug operations in West Tennessee. From 1990 to 1993, he was a Columbia Police officer.

Eledge closed his office on Lawrenceburg's Public Square on Dec. 31 when he accepted the state job, he reports online. Eledge and his partner opened their law firm, Doerflinger & Eledge, almost nine years ago.

For more than 20 years, Eledge has been licensed to practice law in Mississippi and Tennessee. He's a graduate of: Memphis State University; the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy; the TBISpecial Agent School; and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's Drug Investigator Training School in Georgia. He's a TBI-certified child sexual abuse investigator.

Tennessee has a new judicial district because of reapportionment by the state Legislature. Population growth changed the rural composition of Williamson County, according to Judge Michael E. Spitzer of Hohenwald in a document substantiating the need for a separate judicial district for counties that retained their character as small town communities. Williamson County will be one judicial district; the 21st. Hickman, Lewis and Perry counties will be in a new district; the 32nd judicial district.

Appointed two years ago as the 21st Judicial District public defender, Burlison succeeded Vanessa Bryan who retired after 15 years as the elected defender. She was an assistant defender before that. Burlison said the public defender's office plays a "valuable role" to ensure fairness in the criminal justice system.