James E. Edmondson

James E. Edmondson (born 1945), is currently the Vice-Chief Justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was elected to this position by the other eight members of the Supreme Court in 2007 after he was appointed to the Court's District 7 seat by Governor Brad Henry in 2003.

James Edmondson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and is the son of Ed Edmondson, a former U.S. Congressman, and June Edmondson, a nephew of former U.S. Senator and Oklahoma Governor J. Howard Edmondson, and the brother of state Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

He graduated from Muskogee High School, before attending Northeastern State University. Following graduation from NSU in 1967, he served in the United States Navy for two years. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University in 1973. From 1976 to 1978, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in Muskogee County, Oklahoma. From 1978 to 1981, he served in the U.S. Attorney's office in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as Assistant U.S. Attorney, and later Acting U.S. Attorney. From 1981 to 1983, he was a Partner in the Edmondson Law Firm along with his brother. In 1983, he was appointed as Judge for the 15th state Judicial District and served in that post until his appointment to the state supreme court. He is married to Suzanne Edmondson and has two children.

His daughter, Sarah Edmondson is currently serving a 35 year prison sentence for her role in a crime spree with her boyfriend which included a murder and robbery in Mississippi, and a robbery and attempted murder in Louisiana. Judge Edmondson and his wife were named as co-defendants in a lawsuit filed by the attempted murder victim, because they owned the gun allegedly used in the spree. [http://www.courttv.com/archive/legaldocs/misc/killers.html]

References

* [http://www.oscn.net/oscn/schome/edmondson.htm Oklahoma Supreme Court Biography]
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=MOK90778 Project Vote Smart Profile]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/natural_born_killers/1.html Crime Library Article on Sarah Edmondson]