Joseph S. Johnston

Joseph S. Johnston is a circuit judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit in State of Alabama. Appointed by Governor Fob James in April, 1997, Johnston became the first Republican to hold a circuit or district judgeship in Mobile County. He was elected without opposition in 1998, 2000 and 2006.

A native and lifelong resident of Mobile, born on March 15, 1959. Attended both public and private schools in Mobile, graduating from University Military School (now UMS-Wright Preparatory School) in 1977. Rusty received B.A. in history from the University of Alabama in 1981. Received J.D. in 1984 from the University of Alabama School of Law. While attending the University of Alabama Johnston served as the Reagan for President Committee Chairman (1979–1980), the University of Alabama College Republican Chairman (1980–1981) and the Alabama State College Republican Federation Chairman (1982–1983). While attending law school, he founded a chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy. That chapter exists today.

During his years in private practice, Johnston was admitted to practice before the Alabama Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

• Roe vs. Alabama, 68 F.3d 404 (11th Cir.1995) Johnston served as co-counsel for Judge Perry O. Hooper, the Republican nominee for Alabama Chief Justice. Hooper won the election by several hundred votes, but after the election there was an attempt to count unwitnessed absentee ballots. Johnston and co-counsel were successful in getting a U.S. District Court to stop the counting and further had this practice declared unlawful. This is one of the main case, cited for the proposition "you can't change the rules after the election is over".
• State of Alabama vs. Leonardo Carson CC-02-03-4216, CC-02-03-7054. Dallas Cowboys Defensive Lineman,Leonardo Carson, was charged in 2003 with Fist Degree Burglary and Second Degree Kidnapping, both serious offenses in Alabama (and probably the rest of the civilized world). The case was specially prosecuted by Baldwin County District Attorney, David Whetstone. Johnston confirmed a plea bargain between Whetstone and Carson's attorney which resulted in felony charges being dropped and Carson pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. Carson ageed to a 30-day sentence. If convicted of the two felonies, Carson could have been sentenced to a life sentence plus twenty years. Johnston was criticized in the media for a sentence which seemed to give Carson, a former local football hero, a lesser sentence than the average defendant. see http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1822463