New Cherokee Solicitor to Take Office Tuesday

Jessica Moss has had a yearning to serve the county she has called home for two decades.

That dream will become reality when Moss is sworn in Tuesday as .

"I'm really looking forward to the challenges and the opportunities that are coming" she said. "I think it's going to be good."

Gov. Nathan Deal announced the appointment a week ago today. Moss, currently Cobb County's chief assistant solicitor general, will complete the term of , who had to vacate the solicitor general's seat when he entered, then ultimately won, the race for Cherokee County Superior Court judge.

Moss said there are parallels between Cobb and Cherokee.

"As a practical matter," she said, "the issues are going to be very much the same. It's DUIs. It's domestic violence. It's shopliftings. It's the same kinds of crimes that we deal with in Cobb all the time.

It's the volume, Moss said, that will be significantly less in Cherokee.

"Cobb is the second busiest state court in the state of Georgia," she said. "We have 12 state courtrooms down there. We have three here. I think the staff here is a total of 26. I've got 28 lawyers down there, a staff of 66."

Moss' rise to chief prosecutor for Cherokee County State Court comes as her husband, , prepares to retire. The irony has not escaped her.

"There was no plan," she said. "The opportunity presented itself. Once it became clear that Mr. Cannon was going to step down, I decided I would look into it and try to get the position."

Moss said she wants Cherokee's solicitor general office to be a model across Georgia.

"I've been in prosecution a long time," she said. "Twenty six years. When I first got into prosecution, even though I was in the DA's office, the solicitor's office was DeKalb. It was a great office. It's where people wanted to work. It's where everybody wanted to go. And then it became Gwinnett. And now it appears, blessedly, to be Cobb. I want it to be Cherokee.

"I want this office to be the one that people want to go to, where folks say, 'You know, I said I wanted to be in prosecution and they said I needed to call you.' To me, that says you have a good office with a great reputation and you're the leader. And that's where I would like this one to go."

Moss' swearing-in ceremony will be held at noon in the governor's office.

FAST FACTS

• Jessica Moss earned her bachelor’s degree from Brenau University and law degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. She and Cherokee County District Attorney Garry Moss live in Ball Ground.
• Once Cannon's term ends in December 2014, Moss said she will seek re-election. "Absolutely," she said.