The Hon. Gary S. McKenzie is a judge for the 13th Judicial District Criminal Court of Tennessee. He was elected to the bench on August 7, 2014.
The 13th Judicial District encompasses Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, and White Counties.
Prior to his election, McKenzie was a deputy district attorney general with the 13th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office. He started as an assistant district attorney general, holding assignments as the lead prosecutor (2001) and special meth prosecutor (2004) for Cumberland County. Then, in 2007, he was named deputy district attorney general, tasked with prosecuting all homicides and major violent crimes in Cumberland, White, and DeKalb Counties.
McKenzie earned a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Technological University in 1997. He then completed a J.D. at the University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, in 2000.
His memberships have included the Cookeville Sunset Rotary Club, the Cookeville American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He has also been involved with the Board of Directors of the Cookeville Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans Association.
McKenzie is a veteran of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the Tennessee Army National Guard (2005 to 2015).