This circuit judge candidate's courtroom experience includes stints as a defendant

In her campaign for Jefferson Circuit Court, Tracy Evette Davis says she has practiced law for eight years all across the state of Kentucky.

But in addition to representing others, she was herself the defendant in at least three cases.

The Courier Journal reviewed Davis' record after a judge not involved in the election on Wednesday questioned her qualifications.

On Sept. 2, 2019, records show she was charged with reckless driving and driving under the influence – at 6:59 in the morning − after a deputy sheriff saw her “swerving all over the road” and “crossing all lanes” on Interstate 71.

She failed three field sobriety tests given to her by a Louisville Metro Police officer, according to her citation.

Asked about the charge, Davis said in an email, “We are all human.”

She pleaded guilty but was placed in diversion, which she completed this July, resulting in her plea being set aside and dismissed, said Josh Abner, a spokesman for the county attorney’s office.

He said she qualified for diversion because it was her first offense and because there were no “aggravating factors,” such as injuries or property damage.

“I received no special privilege,” she said. “No one is above the law, myself included.”

Also in 2019, Davis, now 43, was charged with a felony for “making a false statement to receive benefits,” when she applied for food stamps and Medicaid, according to court records. The records say her statement allowed her to receive a combined $15,909 in overpayments.

But Abner said the charge was dismissed the next year when she was allowed to amend her tax return to show she had less income, which in turn qualified her for the benefits. Davis said she had not taken deductions in previous years to which she was entitled.

In her email, Davis also noted that while the felony was charged in 2019, she was initially cited in 2013, when she was a single mother of three and studying for the bar exam.

“I struggled like most families in Jefferson County and I am not ashamed of that,” she said.

Davis was also sued in 2019 by a woman who provided management services for her unsuccessful 2018 campaign for district court and who alleged she failed to pay a $22,000 bill. When the sheriff’s office attempted to serve her with the suit six times at her home, Davis avoided service each time, according to court records.

Steavon Deonna Stokes, the plaintiff, eventually won a default judgment against Davis, which she appealed, saying she had never been served with the lawsuit.

In a 2021 unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment.

In her email, Davis said: “I dispute the facts in that case and unfortunately there was a default judgment for a company that never existed in the state of KY and was dissolved in Alabama in bad standing.”

The Courier Journal was unable to locate anyone with the plaintiff’s name for comment.

Her opponent, incumbent Jefferson Circuit Judge Mary Shaw, declined to comment for this story.

Shaw was the only incumbent circuit judge in Jefferson County to draw a challenger in this year's elections. Lawyers said she was vulnerable because she signed the warrant that led to the 2020 police search of Breonna Taylor's home in which she was fatally shot by a detective after her boyfriend − thinking the couple was being robbed − fired one shot that struck a detective in the leg.

Activists initially criticized Shaw for signing the warrant, but more recently detectives who obtained it have been charged in federal court with falsifying an affidavit to obtain it.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Tracy Evette Davis, judicial candidate, has spent time as defendant