Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Attorney Christina “Cricket” Daugherty is joining District Attorney Tim Cotton’s office as an assistant district attorney.

Daugherty is the Natchez municipal judge and Vice Principal at Adams County Christian School.

“Cricket is someone I have known since the seventh grade. She has always been humble and kind to me as a person and as an attorney, she has always been professional and very competent in what she is doing,” Cotton said.

Cotton said that when campaigning, he explained that he believes in working with local people in his office and that “I still believe in local folks.”

“I think our communities in this district offer a very good product regardless of the respective field, and I think I have a duty and obligation to look locally first,” Cotton said. “For years, Cricket has discussed with me that her dream position would be as an assistant district attorney, and I am the type of person who always likes to try to see a person’s dream become reality.”

The Natchez Board of Aldermen appointed Daugherty municipal judge after Lisa Jordan Dale resigned to take a position as an assistant district attorney in Cotton’s office. Daugherty then ran unopposed for a full term.

Daugherty is replacing Assistant District Attorney Dre Wallace, who plans to move out of state to be closer to family.

“Dre and I have a wonderful relationship. I love Dre,” Cotton said. “He has family in New Jersey, and he wants to get closer to his family, and I can’t compete with that. I met Dre when he was a staff attorney in Judge Davis’s office. He is a great guy.”

Wallace’s last day was scheduled to be March 31. However, a trial he has been leading on Thursday was postponed until late April.

“This will show you how committed he is to this office. He asked if he could stay to see that trial through. It has been moved to April 29,” Cotton said. “Cricket’s first day will be Friday, May 1. She will begin after that trial. That will also give her time to complete her obligations to the school and to the city.”

Daugherty is the daughter of the late Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell and the granddaughter of the late Billy Ferrell, also Adams County Sheriff.

She graduated from LSU and earned her law degree from the University of Mississippi. Daugherty practiced for 15 years in Nashville and Natchez before moving into education and earning her administrator’s license from Mississippi College. She is the wife of Adams County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Shane Daugherty.

“I am incredibly excited,” Daugherty said. “It is absolutely my dream job. When my husband and I moved to Natchez from Nashville, I was a prosecutor in the 20th and 21st judicial districts. When we got here, I applied and just kept trying.”

Daugherty said she is happy to have time to transition from her job as municipal judge and at Adams County Christian School.

“I told everybody at AC today, and there were lots of tears and hugs. They are behind me and support me and were just wonderful about it,” Daugherty said. “As municipal judge, I have enjoyed serving in that position and love everyone there. But this is my dream job, and I just can’t pass it up. I’m excited and happy that I still get to serve the citizens of Natchez and Adams County.”