Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Pre-Law Society at Mississippi State is selecting the state's newest federal judge for its 2005 Distinguished Jurist Award.
U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett of McComb will receive the honor March 29 during an 11 a.m. public program in the John Grisham Room of the university's Mitchell Memorial Library. He was nominated to the federal bench last year by President George W. Bush.
Prior to receiving the award from Pre-Law Society president Robert W. Miles of Morton, Starrett will speak on a topic of his choosing. Later, he will join members of the student organization in 180 Bowen Hall for a panel discussion--also open to the general public--of current legal issues.
First presented to retired U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Tom Clark in 1977, the Distinguished Jurist Award is supported by the MSU College of Arts and Sciences and Office of the President. Both sitting and retired jurists at all levels of service have been selected for the career recognition.
Mary Libby Payne, retired state appeals court judge and Mississippi College School of Law dean, was last year's honoree.
Starrett, a sixth-generation Mississippian, is a 1972 MSU business graduate who went on to earn a juris doctorate at the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1974.
Before assuming the Hattiesburg-based bench of the U.S. District Court of Southern Mississippi earlier this year, he served since 1992 as circuit judge for the Mississippi 14th Judicial District. Among other accomplishments while a circuit judge, he led in establishing and presiding over Mississippi's first felony-level drug court.
He also was appointed to the Mississippi Drug Court Commission by the Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice, and was a member of the state commission to redraft the Mississippi Criminal Code.
From 1974-92, he was in general private practice in both the state and federal court systems. During this time, he spent a year as an assistant district attorney for the 14th Judicial District.
For his career achievements, Starrett has been named a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Association and received the association's Judicial Excellence Award. He also has been honored with a Justice Achievement Award of the Mississippi Court Administrators Association and a leadership award from the Louisiana Association of Drug Court Professionals.
In his community, Starrett was the incorporator and a former director of both Mississippi Pike County, a racial and denominational reconciliation organization, and Southwest Mississippi Child Protection, a child advocacy group in Pike and Lincoln counties.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information on the program, telephone Pre-Law Society adviser Diane Wall at (662) 325-7864.
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Starrett also is a deacon and Sunday school teacher in the McComb First Baptist Church.
He and his wife Barbara are the parents of two sons and a daughter. Josh, the oldest, is an MSU graduate, while Whit, the youngest of the three, is an MSU senior. Daughter Leigh Claire is a Baylor University graduate currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi.