J. Daniel Breen

Daniel Breen
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
Incumbent
Assumed office August 23, 2013
Preceded by	Jon Phipps McCalla
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
Incumbent
Assumed office March 14, 2003
Appointed by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Julia Smith Gibbons
Personal details
Born	(1950-07-10) July 10, 1950 Jackson, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma mater	Spring Hill College University of Tennessee College of Law

John Daniel Breen (born July 10, 1950) is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Breen received a B.A. from Spring Hill College in 1972 and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1975. He was in private practice in Jackson from 1975 to 1991. He served as U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee from 1991 to 2003 before being nominated to his current position.

On January 7, 2003, Breen was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee vacated by Julia Smith Gibbons. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 2003 and received his commission on March 14, 2003. He became chief judge on August 8, 2013.

Breen presided over the case of Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, the perpetrators in the Barack Obama assassination plot in Tennessee. In 2010, Breen convicted the two of conspiracy to murder Obama and other African-American people and sentenced Cowart and Schlesselman to 14 and 10 years in federal prison respectively; both suspects pleaded guilty to conspiracy to their charges.

Sources

• J. Daniel Breen at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.