{"county":"Shelby","description":null,"district":"shelby","districtgroup":"county","id":58,"key":"criminal_court_div_8","lastchangeby":null,"name":null,"next_election":"2022-11-08","notes":"68","officegroup":"criminal_court","partisan":null,"party":null,"qualities":"- Trial-court judge in Tennessee criminal court: presides over felony cases \u2014 indictments, pretrial motions, jury trials, sentencing under TCA Title 40.\n- Judicial temperament: the willingness to listen, deliberate, and apply the law dispassionately to people whose lives are deeply affected by the outcome.\n- Impartiality and ethics under the Tennessee Rules of Judicial Conduct, including disqualification when conflicts arise.\n- Working knowledge of the substantive and procedural law applied in the assigned court (cited per court below) and the published precedent that controls.\n- Docket management \u2014 moving cases efficiently while honoring due process and the time pressures that fall on litigants and witnesses.\n- Clear written and oral explanation of rulings, so the parties and the public can follow the reasoning.","quantity":null,"source":null,"state":"TN","term_end":null,"term_start":null,"term_years":8,"terms":[{"current":0,"description":"Resigned 2026-06-11; original term ran through 2030-09-01.","electiondate":"2022-08-06","name":"Chris Craft","person":{"biography":"## Current status\n\nChris 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.\n\n## Career\n\nChris 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\u2019s 27.2% (32,268 votes) [1].\n\nCraft 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].\n\nBefore 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\u2019s Office; during the final three years of this tenure (1991\u20131994), 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].\n\nOn 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].\n\nCraft\u2019s 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].\n\nIn 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\u2019s 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\u2019s Office [19].\n\nIn July 2024, Craft issued a ruling removing 28 cases from General Sessions Judge Shelia Renfroe\u2019s 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].\n\n\n## Sources\n\n[1] [Chris Craft - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Chris_Craft)\n[7] [Chris Craft | Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts](https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/judges/chris-craft)\n[9] [Court of the Judiciary Elects Craft as Presiding Judge; Releases Annual Statistics | Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts](https://www.tncourts.gov/press/2011/08/24/court-judiciary-elects-craft-presiding-judge-releases-annual-statistics)\n[19] [Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft - Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian](https://dailymemphian.com/index/tag?tag=Shelby+County+Criminal+Court+Judge+Chris+Craft)\n[20] [Nearly 30 cases taken from Shelby County judge's court due to conflict with public defender](https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/nearly-30-cases-taken-from-shelby-county-judges-court-due-to-conflict-with-public-defender/article_0e2be1f2-3891-11ef-96e0-3f077615215a.html)\n[23] [Shelby County Criminal Court Division 8 Judge Chris Craft - Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian](https://dailymemphian.com/index/tag?tag=Shelby+County+Criminal+Court+Division+8+Judge+Chris+Craft)\n[25] [DIVISION VIII | Criminal Court Clerk](https://www.criminalcourtclerkkuhn.com/division8)\n[27] Resignation reported by Doug 2026-06-11; awaiting public SCEC / TN AOC notice.","firstname":"Chris","lastname":"Craft","token":"fkDs4NyJBT"},"term_end":"2026-06-11","term_start":"2022-09-01"}],"title":"Criminal Court Div 8","type":null,"url":null,"whenchanged":"2026-04-25 19:49:19"}