Sources: Well-known Nashville lawyer a top candidate for U.S. Attorney

Leading criminal defense attorney seen as possible replacement for Jim Vines, who resigned last month

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse and E. Thomas Wood

Ed Yarbrough

NashvillePost.com has learned that Ed Yarbrough, widely regarded as one of the leading criminal defense lawyers in town, is being considered for the post of U.S. Attorney for Middle Tennessee.

Sources say Yarbrough is on a shortlist of candidates, and possibly at the top of the list, for the job of running the federal government's prosecutorial law firm. The U.S. Attorney's office, based in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building downtown with branches in Columbia and Cookeville, includes 31 assistant U.S. Attorneys and handles hundreds of federal prosecutions annually. Yarbrough would replace Jim Vines, who left his position at the end of September.

The job requires a presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. Yarbrough has not been particularly active in Nashville politics over the years, but he did contribute $250 to the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign in 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Yarbrough, a Vietnam veteran, who served as an assistant district attorney in Nashville for three years after he earned his law degree from Vanderbilt in 1973, has handled numerous high-profile cases as a partner in the firm of Hollins, Wagster, Yarbrough, Weatherly & Raybin. He gained national attention as counsel to three of Tammy Wynette’s daughters in a $50-million wrongful death lawsuit over the singer's medical treatment, though the case was eventually dismissed in 2002. Yarbrough has also represented State Sen. Doug Jackson (D-Dickson) on charges of abuse against his teenaged daughter, State Sen. John Ford (D-Memphis) before the Senate's Ethics Committee, and country star George Jones on reckless driving charges.

Reached this morning, Yarbrough declined to comment on whether he is a candidate for the post.

On Monday, the Justice Department named Craig S. Morford, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, to fill the position on an interim basis. Under the law, he can serve for 120 days before a permanent appointment must be made.