Jim Kitchens

From Judgepedia

Jim Kitchens is a candidate for the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2008. He is running for the District 1, Place 3 seat on the court currently occupied by Chief Justice James Smith. Ceola James is also in contention for the seat.

Kitchens is a Sunday school teacher and a Baptist deacon. He has been married for nearly fifty years.

Legal Education and Experience

Legal Education

Jim Kitchens received his undergraduate degree in 1964 from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 1967.

Legal Experience

Kitchens served as D.A. to Mississippi's 14th district, which encompasses Copiah, Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall counties, for three terms beginning in the early 1970's. He received his undergraduate degree in 1964 from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 1967. He is licensed to practice law in Mississippi and the District of Columbia, as well as in all state and federal appellate courts. Early in his career he was the court-appointed attorney for Byron De La Beckwith.^[1]

Awards and Associations

Jim Kitchens has been active in the National District Attorneys Association and the Mississippi Prosecutors Association. Since returning to private practice, Jim Kitchens has served in leadership roles for the American Association for Justice and the Mississippi Association for Justice, including on the boards of governors and executive committees. In 1998, Jim Kitchens successfully litigated an heirship paternity proceeding on behalf of the only child of blues legend Robert Johnson, more than 60 years after the musician’s death. Kitchens has appeared in Rolling Stone magazine and will be portrayed in an upcoming HBO movie about the case.^[2]

Judicial Philosophy and Campaign Contributions

Kitchens describes himself as "an old country lawyer", but is running a tech-savvy campaign, with a campaign blog, MySpace account and active outreach to bloggers in the state.

• Kitchens "is a stout supporter of an elected judiciary". He says that he "respectfully disagrees" with opponent James Smith's idea that supreme court judges in Mississippi ought to be appointed by the governor rather than elected. "The people of Mississippi cherish the right to vote for their officials. I don't think they want to give up the right to elect one third of our government."^[3]
• Campaign disclosure: "We need to improve the way we select judges. Judges should be elected, but they shouldn't have the ability to know who contributed to whose campaigns."

The people, he said, should "know that there's a judge sitting on the bench who won't be affected by campaign contributions."

• “In the last several years, a disturbing trend has emerged from our courts, one where the people of Mississippi are routinely overlooked for the benefit of large corporations and out-of-state interests,” Kitchens said recently.^[4]

In the News: Articles

Fundraising good for some (July 15, 2008)

There are four months left in the Supreme Court races, and as 10 candidates seek four seats on Mississippi's Supreme Court, five of them have raised more than $100,000 each. Two candidates report raising no money. Ann Lamar reported raising $31,100 during June, while Gene Barton's report shows he borrowed $42,000 from himself and $75,000 from credit cards until campaign contributions roll in to pay them off.

Statewide, the top judicial race fundraisers so far are: James Smith of Brandon - $211,999; Jim Kitchens of Crystal Springs - $186,659; Gene Barton - $142,445; Chandler - $125,838; Randy "Bubba" Pierce of Leakesville - $115,718. For the month of June, Chief Justice Smith of Brandon is the money leader - raising $142,449. After expenses, he reported cash on hand at $139,673.86.^[5]

Rivals outraise Incumbents (June 29, 2008)

Some opponents of three Mississippi Supreme Court justices are far outpacing the incumbents in campaign contributions in their quest to gain a seat on the nine-member court, based on initial campaign finance reports. In District 1, Chief Justice James Smith, who has been on the court since 1993, has raised $69,550 this year. His opponent, Crystal Springs lawyer Jim Kitchens, has raised $125,000. Smith and Kitchens couldn't be reached for comment. The third person in the race for Smith's seat, former Chancery Judge Ceola James of Vicksburg, reports no campaign contributions or distributions in the campaign finance report filed with the Mississippi secretary of state.^[6]

See Also

• Mississippi
• Mississippi Supreme Court
• Mississippi Supreme Court elections

External links

• Mississippi Supreme Court Election Information
• Jim Kitchens campaign website
• Website of a supporter
• Kitchen's issues
• Court says judge wrong to deny trial
• Challengers outpacing Incumbents
• Starkville Daily News: Lawyer writes ads against Kitchens misleading
• Campaign Finance Reports

References