The Hon. Vernon R. Cotten (Ret.) was a judge for the 8th Circuit Court District of Mississippi. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Kirk Fordice in 1997. Cotten retired on May 31, 2017.
The 8th Circuit includes Leake, Neshoba, Newton, and Scott Counties. Cotten is credited with founding the 8th Circuit Drug Court in 2003, which later expanded to include special programs for DUI offenders and veterans. His judicial tenure also includes presiding for ten years as a municipal judge for the Carthage Municipal Court and twenty-three years as a special judge for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Over the course of his legal career, Cotten also served as a private practice attorney in Carthage, an attorney for the Central Electric Power Association, local counsel for Citizens Bank of Philadelphia, the City Attorney for the Town of Walnut Grove, and the Prosecuting Attorney for Leake County.
He received a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Mississippi State University in 1959. Cotten then completed a J.D. at Jackson School of Law (now Mississippi College School of Law) in 1965.