Heather Hendricks Lanier has announced her intention to run for State Superior Court Judge in the South Georgia Judicial Circuit.

Lanier, who is the daughter of Jesse and Judy Hendricks, resides in Baker County and currently works as Deputy Chief District Attorney in Dougherty County.

She graduated from West Wood High School before attending the University of Georgia, from where she graduated in 1997 with a Bachelors of Arts in English. After graduation she attended law school at Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law.

After receiving her law degree she worked as a prosecutor in Dougherty County from 2004 to Jan. 2011 at which time she accepted a job in the South Georgia District Attorney’s office located in Bainbridge. She held that position until Feb. 2012 at which time she returned to Dougherty County in a supervisory prosecutor role.

“I want to come home,” Lanier said. “This is my home circuit. This is where I grew up. This is where my family is. This is where my husband’s business is and I want to be able to serve those people. Its an opportunity for me to do that and hopefully improve the circuit.”

Lanier and her husband Michael Lanier Jr., have three daughters aged nine, six and two and she feels that her experience as a mother combined with her experience as a prosecutor makes her the most qualified candidate for the position.

“I have over a decade of experience working in the court room,” Lanier said. “Working with the rules of evidence and those same rules apply to a judge…my experience and my experience as a mother has led me to be qualified.”

Lanier said her goal is to be impartial, fair and firm, but also compassionate as a judge. Lanier, who cites Judge A. Wallace Cato, who is retiring from the Superior Court seat, as a major influence on her and a major reason she is running for the seat.

“I really want to follow in that tradition,” Lanier said. “I decided now was a good time to run.”

Lanier can be reached by phone at (229) 343-3827.