Prosecutor reinstated after completing sobriety program
Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Monica Timmerman had her law license reinstated Nov. 7 by the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court, records show.
Timmerman was suspended from practicing law in late September after violating the terms of an agreement with the board, which stated she had to take part in a program and monitoring agreement following her guilty plea for a December 2022 DUI and traffic accident.
She entered the guilty plea Feb. 8 and was sentenced to serve two days in jail followed by almost a year of probation. Timmerman also had to pay for the damages caused in the accident.
"Despite her position as an ADA, [Timmerman] asked for no special favors and accepted the same treatment of any other first-time DUI offender," the board wrote in its findings of fact.
Timmerman entered into an agreement to take an assessment through the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP), which recommended she be admitted to a "residential treatment program for professionals," and provided Timmerman with a list of facilities.
The average cost of treatment at those facilities, according to the board, was $28,000 for the first 30 days. Timmerman would pay more if the facility recommended an extended term. The board said that the average cost of treatment totaled one-third of Timmerman's salary.
Timmerman emailed TLAP that she "simply did not have the money," which was forwarded to the board which then filed for her to be suspended.
After she was told of her suspension, TLAP was able to work with one facility to cut the cost to about $6,000 for Timmerman to attend the treatment "on a partial hospitalization/extended care basis" for 30 days. Timmerman finished the program Oct. 27.
Timmerman, at an Oct. 31 hearing, said she will use local support groups going forward.
"The panel finds Ms. Timmerman's efforts to seek treatment through the assistance of TLAP to be quite laudable," it wrote. "In fact, it appears from the testimony of Mr. [J.E. 'Buddy'] Stockwell (of TLAP) and Ms. Timmerman that she has done everything asked of her to address this issue and she has made commendable commitments to continue addressing her history of addiction, including completion of a residential treatment program and execution of a new monitoring agreement with TLAP which she is in compliance with."
Timmerman will now be able to immediately return to practicing law, the board said.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @Lucasfinton.