Trump nominates Belmont law prof as U.S. attorney in Middle TN

Donald Cochran, a law professor at Belmont and former federal prosecutor in Alabama, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to become U.S. attorney for Middle Tennessee.

He is one of 17 people nominated to U.S. attorney positions around the country who, according to a White House press release, “share the President’s vision for ‘Making America Safe Again’.”

Here’s what the release says about Cochran:

If confirmed, Donald Q. Cochran of Tennessee will serve as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.  Mr. Cochran is currently a law professor at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee, where he teaches courses in criminal law and trial advocacy.  Mr. Cochran was previously a professor at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.

From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Cochran was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Alabama.  During that time, he prosecuted white collar crimes, public corruption, and violent crimes, including the final defendant charged with the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Mr. Cochran began his career as a prosecutor in the Jefferson County (Birmingham, Alabama) District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted homicides, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes.  Mr. Cochran clerked for the Honorable Julie E. Carnes of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  He graduated from Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Law School.  Prior to attending law school, Mr. Cochran was an Army Ranger and Special Forces officer for nine years.