VOL. 126 | NO. 150 | Wednesday, August 3, 2011

General Sessions Court Clerk Otis Jackson has been suspended for 60 days by the judges of the civil and criminal divisions of General Sessions Court. The suspension was announced Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 3.

Jackson’s suspension follows his indictment in July on four counts of official misconduct by the Shelby County grand jury.

The judges appointed Ed Stanton Jr. to serve as temporary clerk. Stanton has run for the position before and is the father of U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton III.

The judges met Friday, July 29, and a majority voted for the suspension with pay, effective Aug. 5. Jackson was told of the suspension Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Jackson was elected to the clerk’s post in 2008 and has said he intends to seek re-election in 2012. He has said he did nothing wrong. The charges allege Jackson assembled workers in his office on county time and required them each to raise a certain amount of money for his 2012 re-election campaign.

The elected status of the clerk’s position coexists with the process established in state law that allows the judges to act on the corruption charges.

The suspension order was signed by 12 of the 15 General Sessions judges. Judges John A. Donald and Deborah Henderson did not sign. Chris Turner, the administrative judge, recused himself. He was Jackson’s opponent in the 2008 county general election and was elected judge in 2010.