District Attorney-elect Scott Colom has made the first hire for his staff.
Colom announced his hire of Columbus Municipal Judge Marc Amos through his “Scott Colom for District Attorney” Facebook page Thursday afternoon.
On Friday, Colom told The Dispatch he began talking to Amos shortly after he won the Nov. 3 16th Circuit district attorney race.
He said Amos reached out to him shortly after the election, and his familiarity with the municipal judge from working as Columbus’ city prosecutor helped move the process along.
“I’ve worked with Marc as city prosecutor for the last several years,” Colom said. “I have a high opinion of him based on that experience. He has a strong legal mind, good work ethic and a compassion for people.”
Amos said he wanted to work with Colom because their share similar ideals.
“I called Scott and told him that I would like to talk to him about the position — that I was very interested in it, and he was gracious enough to talk about it,” he said. “His goals, his plan and his vision match with a lot of what I was trying to do with municipal court and drug court. With Scott in that position, it’s an even better opportunity to accomplish great things for everyone in the community.”
Amos has served as municipal judge since 2010, and has practiced law in Columbus since 1993.
Prosecution is a new phase for Amos’ career, as he said he’s primarily practiced business litigation. However, he said he is up for the challenge.
“I’ve got a learning curve that I’m going to have to get over and I’m going to be learning a lot of new things,” Amos said. “I’m looking forward to that. Having said that, I think working has a municipal judge has helped. I’ve heard thousands of cases. I’ve done preliminary hearings on hundreds of felonies. It’s a totally different job and I’m going into a totally different role. But, having said that, I think I’m up to the task.”
Amos said he will vacate his seat as municipal judge before he joins Colom’s staff in January. He said he intends to submit his resignation, effective Dec. 31, to the city.
In the meantime, Colom will continue filling out his staff. He said he can have five assistant district attorneys. He said the need for Amos to resign from his city judge position sped the process along for him, but he hopes to have a complete staff announced by mid-December.
Colom further noted that he hopes to retain some of current District Attorney Forrest Allgood’s staff to smooth the transition.
“Several have reached out to me and expressed interest,” he said. “I told everyone who’s expressed interest that I’ll review their resumes. I don’t hold it against them that they supported the current district attorney or supported him through the race. The campaign is over. Now it’s about doing a good job.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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