Administrative Office of Courts
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Hinds Circuit, Chancery and County judges to be sworn in December 29 December 27, 2022 Hinds County judges will take their oaths of office at a swearing-in ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 29 in Courtroom No. 1 on the second floor of the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson. New and returning judges will be sworn in. 
New judges are Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs and Chancellor Temetrice Hodges. Judge Gibbs will take the position previously held by Circuit Judge Tomie T. Green, who is retiring after 24 years of service on the bench. Judge Hodges will take the position previously held by Chancellor Denise Owens, who is retiring after 33 ½ years of service on the bench. Judge-elect Gibbs also will have an individual oath ceremony on Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. in Courtroom No. 1. Her husband, Robert Gibbs, who served as a Hinds Circuit Judge 1991-1998, will administer the ceremonial oath. She was elected to the same judicial position. Judge-elect Gibbs served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from District 72, representing Hinds and Madison counties, for the past six years. She most recently served as vice-chair of the Tourism Committee. She was a member of the Banking and Financial Services, Education, Ethics, Judiciary B, Judiciary En Banc and Medicaid committees. She taught accounting at Jackson State University and was the founding director of JSU’s School of Business Center for Professional Development. She left JSU to become Director of Accounting and Finance at the Mississippi Department of Human Services, serving there through 1996. Gov. Haley Barbour appointed her as a Commissioner of the Mississippi Workers Compensation Commission in 2010. She served there until 2014, then returned to the private practice of law at Gibbs Travis, PLLC. She grew up in Gulfport and attended Gulfport Public Schools. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Masters of Business Administration from Mississippi College and a Juris Doctor from Mississippi College School of Law. After completing law school, she served as a law clerk for Justice Jim Smith of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Judge-elect Hodges has practiced law in Jackson for 12 years, first in private practice then as an assistant district attorney for Hinds County. Much of her private practice was in family law. She was a volunteer attorney for Mission First and a former member of the Mississippi Bar Child Welfare and Advocacy Committee. She serves as a volunteer at Stew Pot in Jackson and is a corporate board member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Mississippi. She is active in PTA and serves as a mentor for middle school students. Judge-elect Hodges attended Jackson Public Schools and Piney Woods Country Life School. She is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and Mississippi College School of Law. #### |
