Charlotte Tesmer, serves as District Attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit which includes Butler, Crenshaw and Lowndes Counties and was in the first graduating class of Jones School of Law in 1985. At that time, Jones was meeting in a few classrooms on Huntingdon College’s campus before the school moved to its permanent home on Faulkner’s Montgomery campus.
When Tesmer was in her undergraduate studies in criminal justice at Auburn University Montgomery, a professor encouraged her to apply to Jones.
“At Jones, we had many good professors who were actively practicing in different areas of law and they brought to the table a lot of different aspects that were instrumental in my own practice,” Tesmer said. “I discovered early on that I wanted to be a prosecutor in criminal law and was always encouraged by my professors at Jones.”
After Jones, Tesmer worked in insurance until an assistant district attorney position opened up in the Second Circuit. She worked as a prosecutor for more than fourteen years, before going into private practice in Greenville. After ten years in private practice she was appointed as District Attorney to fill the remaining unexpired term of John Andrews. Upon completing that term Tesmer was elected for her current term as District Attorney.
During her career, Tesmer has gone from trying traffic tickets to capital murder cases and is proud to help find justice for those in her hometown and community.
“We take pride in our office being a victim-based office,” Tesmer said. “We guide our victims through the system the best we can and try hard to get justice for them.”
In June, Tesmer was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Alabama District Attorneys Association.