Eighth Judicial District Attorney speaks at Rotary 

By Charlotte Underwood 

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Eighth Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler was Tuesday’s guest speaker at the Campbell County Rotary Club luncheon held at the LaFollette Methodist Church. 

Effler was introduced by Rotarian Lynn Ray.

Effler is from Union County and is a graduate of Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law. He was elected as the Eighth Judicial District Attorney General in August 2014 and re-elected in 2022. 

He gave an “update on the state of what’s going on in the district attorney’s office.” 

Tennessee is divided into 32 Judicial Districts. The Eighth Judicial District is one of the largest is the state and consists of Union, Campbell, Claiborne, Scott and Fentress counties. 

It consists of 15 towns or cities, 13 police agencies, over 2,000 square miles, over 132,000 residents, two time zones and three area codes, as well as Norris Lake’s 33,840 acres of water surface and 809 miles of shoreline. 

“My staff is tasked with prosecuting all criminal matters under state law,” Effler said. The district attorney’s office is also tasked with advising grand juries.

Something unique to the Eighth Judicial District is that it has a Child Support Division collecting child support. Not all DA offices in the state are tasked with this.

Last year the Eighth Judicial District Attorney General’s Office disposed of over 18,000 cases.

The DA’s office has 35 full-time employees in the criminal division, 17 full time Assistant District Attorneys.  

Courts the DA’s office covered include General Sessions Court Criminal Division, Mental Health Court, Recovery Court and Veterans Court, as well as Juvenile Court 

“One of the things I am most proud of in my office is we are victim focused. One of the special things we are doing for crime victims in Campbell County is we have a safe space waiting room so the defendant can’t harass the victim and that is thanks to the Campbell County government that we have a safe space, so when it’s time for them to testify, we call them into court and they testify,” Effler said, adding that the this helped his office tremendously with getting convictions since the victims were not being intimidated by the offenders.

Another thing Effler said he was proud of is that the Eighth Judicial District hosts the annual Clay’s for Children Fundraiser for all the Child Advocacy Centers in the Eighth Judicial District, which includes five counties. Last year that event raised $110,000.

He also talked about the Handle with Care Program.

“It gives the school system a heads up if a student has been involved with something, for example, maybe little Johnny is tired and sleeping in class, instead of assuming he was up all night playing video games, the teacher can be informed that maybe his father was arrested for domestic violence and that’s why he is tired at school, they then know to handle this child with care and extend a little grace. The officers have been trained; teachers have been trained. It’s a tremendous tool to help crime victims,” Effler said.

Helping crime victims and prosecuting offenders is the highest priority for the district attorney’s office. He said the incarceration rate of Campbell County is double the national average and that shows his office is doing its job of putting offenders behind bars.

“The most important thing we do is go to court with crime victims and hold offenders accountable,” Effler said.

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 5/7/2025-6AM)