Mack Garner

Mack Garner is the Public Defender member of the Blount County Recovery Court team. Garner earned his B.A. from Maryville College in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1973. He was in private practice from 1973 to 1990. He was elected Public Defender for District 5 in 1990 and continues to hold that office. He has been twice elected President of the Tennessee Public Defenders Conference, and was a member of the Indigent Defense Commission, and the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Mental Health and Criminal Justice. ‍ Garner is married to Sarah Cripps, an attorney who practices in Smithville, Tennessee. They have two children, a standard poodle named Penny and a Yorkshire terrier named Bronte. Garner hobbies are chess and music. Legally blind since birth, he represented the United States in the Chess Olympics for the Visually Handicapped in 1976 and 1980. He is a past president of the Tennessee Chess Association and past Editor of the Tennessee Chess Magazine. He is also an accomplished piano and hammer dulcimer player. In addition, Garner is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan. Garner has been on the Recovery Court team and participated in planning sessions for over 20 years. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Yogi Berra.