Rebecca Stern announces bid to return to the bench

Former judge is running to replace Judge Don Poole

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Former Judge Rebecca Stern announces her plans to return to the courtroom. She will run to replace Judge Don Poole for Hamilton County Criminal Court. Judge Poole is retiring.

Stern retired, herself, in 2015. She had fought and beaten breast cancer while remaining on the bench in 2010. But she says she eventually realized she needed to focus more on her health.

“Throughout my journey with cancer, I concentrated on my work. I never took time to focus on myself and my health the way I should have, and I needed to do so.”

She and her husband moved to Puerto Rico and ran an Airbnb for more than a year.

“After a year, I was ready to return to work,” Stern says.

Stern opened a new law practice specializing in criminal defense. But now she says she’s ready for another change.

“I’ve been a prosecutor, a judge, and now a defense attorney. The role I most enjoy is that of judge because I can take a neutral position and look at a case from both sides. I love interacting with jurors, particularly, and I like to be able to apply creative, solution oriented approaches to sentencing by using drug court and mental health court.”

Stern says her proudest accomplishment in her 17 year run as a criminal court judge was developing “drug court” in Hamilton County.

The election in on May 3rd of next year.