Don McMillan qualifies to run for Circuit Judge

Published 4:08 pm Monday, October 5, 2015

Don McMillan has qualified to run for Circuit Judge, Place 2 in Alabama’s Fourth Judicial Circuit.

JOHN McMILLAN

DON McMILLAN

“After 24 years of service, Circuit Judge Jack Meigs is retiring, leaving an open circuit judge seat in Place 2, Fourth Judicial Circuit. With your support and vote in the March 1, 2016, Democratic primary, it will be an honor to serve you as Circuit Judge for Bibb, Dallas, Hale, Perry and Wilcox,” McMillan staid.

With humble beginnings, McMillan grew up in Camden and was the first in his family to graduate college. In helping pay his way through college and law school, McMillan worked as a bricklayer, construction worker, waiter, installed septic tanks, framed houses, planted trees, bush-hogged and the list goes on. McMillan’s father began work at an early age, his mother served as a teller at Town-Country National Bank.

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“They instilled a strong work ethic in me, and I earned my first paycheck at age 14 working on the limb truck for the city of Camden. Later, I worked bagging groceries in the summer, on Saturdays and after school. Eventually, I even landed a job at a local radio station in Camden as an early morning disk-jockey,” he said.

In 1992, McMillan graduated from Troy University with a B.S. degree in political science. In 1996, he graduated from Jones School of Law in Montgomery and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar that same year.

Thereafter, McMillan served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Rodney R. Steele, chief judge, and Judge William R. Sawyer, chief judge, of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

In January 2000, he continued his public service as a prosecutor for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Alabama. In 2004, he became an assistant attorney general for the state of Alabama. In 2006, McMillan was elected as district judge of Perry County and is currently serving his second term.

“Throughout my career, now as judge after serving as an assistant district attorney with the Fourth Judicial Circuit and later as an assistant attorney general with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, I have always been fair, to all parties, in seeking justice,” McMillan said. “As District Judge for Perry County, I have continued this fairness making sure those who cannot afford an attorney are represented, sending cases on to the jury trial level only after careful consideration, accommodating attorneys in a reasonable manner and managing dockets in an efficient way to assure that the rights of all parties are protected.”

As a judge in civil cases, McMillan has made certain that those who face considerable debt find a way out that is beneficial to all parties involved and that all that come to court have their voice heard.

Additionally, as juvenile judge, McMillan said he looks for ways to ensure that each child involved is provided with programs that will divert him or her from a life of crime and, more importantly, prevent one misstep from adversely affecting that child’s future.

McMillan is in his 19th year of marriage to Jennifer Epperson McMillan (formerly of Uniontown). They live in Marion and are the proud parents of two young sons, Knox, 15, and John Hardy, 10.

Jennifer is self-employed as an accountant after working for a Montgomery firm for more than ten years. They are members of Siloam Baptist Church, where McMillan is a deacon and teaches Sunday school at Southland Nursing Home.

Additionally, McMillan serves as an adjunct professor in criminal justice at Judson College, is a baseball, football and golf coach, scoutmaster, Alabama Wildlife Federation Board Member, Gideon and is in his eighth year as Chair of the Cross-Ties Thanksgiving committee, where each year more than 300 free Thanksgiving meals are provided to the those in need in Perry County.

“My only interest since becoming an attorney in 1996 has been to work for and serve, with distinction, the people of the state of Alabama. It is and, has been, with daily prayer and God’s continuing work in my life that I have carried on. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve each of you and thank you for your support, prayers, encouragement and your vote. I look forward to serving alongside you as your Circuit Judge and pledge my compassion, fairness and understanding. Vote for Don McMillan, Circuit Judge, Place 2, in the Democratic Primary on March 1, 2016.”