Chris Craft

Current status

Chris Craft resigned from his seat as Shelby County Criminal Court Judge, Division 8, on June 11, 2026 ²⁷. The August 6, 2026 ballot includes a special election to fill the unexpired remainder of his term, which ran through September 1, 2030.

Career

Chris Craft served as the judge for Division VIII of the 30th Judicial District Criminal Court in Shelby County, Tennessee, from his 1994 appointment until his resignation on June 11, 2026 ²⁷. His original term ran through September 1, 2030 ¹. Craft was elected to the bench in 1996 and has been re-elected three times since then ⁷. In the August 4, 2022 general election, he defeated challenger Sanjeev Memula, receiving 72.8% of the vote (86,306 votes) compared to Memula’s 27.2% (32,268 votes) ¹.

Craft received his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Memphis in 1975 and his J.D. from the same institution in 1978 ¹. He also completed post-graduate work at Vanderbilt University between 1969 and 1972/1973, and attended the Memphis Theological Seminary from 1979 to 1982 for graduate work in law and religion ¹, ⁷.

Before his judicial career, Craft managed a family farm in Proctor, Arkansas, from 1971 to 1975 ⁷. He was an attorney in the private firm of Craft & Craft from 1978 to 1982 ¹. From 1982 to 1994, he served as an assistant district attorney in the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office; during the final three years of this tenure (1991–1994), he worked as a senior trial prosecutor in the Major Violators Unit ¹, ⁷. Since 2001, Craft has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Memphis Law School ⁷.

On the bench, Craft has served as presiding judge of the Court of the Judiciary, which handles complaints against judges and imposes sanctions for judicial misconduct; he was elected to this role in 2011 ⁹. He is vice-president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference and serves as Dean of the Tennessee Judicial Academy, which provides orientation and training for newly elected and appointed judges ⁷. Additionally, he chairs the Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Tennessee Private Probation Services Council ⁷.

Craft’s community involvement includes membership in the Shelby County Domestic Violence Council and the Memphis Leadership Foundation, both as a founding member ⁷. He is a member of Second Presbyterian Church, where he has served as an elder since 1986 and an adult Sunday School teacher since 1984 ⁷.

In his judicial capacity, Craft has handled high-profile cases in Division VIII. In May 2023, he sentenced Gregory Livingston to life in prison for first-degree murder related to a 2021 Kroger shooting ²³. He also lowered Livingston’s bail to $750,000 earlier in the proceedings ¹⁹. In the case of the 2018 slaying of Greater Memphis Chamber president Phil Trenary, Craft appointed an independent attorney for one suspect after identifying a potential conflict of interest regarding the suspect's former defense lawyer, who had become an employee of the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office ¹⁹.

In July 2024, Craft issued a ruling removing 28 cases from General Sessions Judge Shelia Renfroe’s court due to a conflict with Public Defender Melody Carlisle. Craft wrote that Renfroe had created an "appearance of bias" and refused to promptly rule on the recusal motion for over two months ²⁰. He noted that Renfroe had displayed animosity toward Carlisle, including ordering her to leave the courtroom and sending emails describing her as "inbalanced" and a "danger to the community" ²⁰. Craft ruled that this delay posed a danger to defendants requiring mental health treatment and ordered the cases remanded for reassignment ²⁰.

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