Kemp names DA to become judge in circuit east of Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) - Gov. Brian Kemp is appointing a district attorney to the bench in a two-county judicial circuit east of Atlanta.

Kemp announced Thursday that he was naming Layla H. Zon to a superior court judgeship in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit, which includes Newton and Walton counties. She replaced Judge Samuel Ozburn, who resigned.

Zon was hired as a prosecutor in the circuit in 2000 and was named district attorney in the circuit in 2010 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal. She subsequently won re-election. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Liberty University and a law degree from the Georgia State College of Law.

She briefly launched a run for another superior court seat last year when Judge Horace Johnson Jr. announced he would run for the state Supreme Court. But Justice Robert Benham resigned early enough to allow Kemp to appoint his replacement, so there wasn’t a race for Johnson to enter. Zon did not file to challenge the sitting judge.

Zon, a Covington resident, serves as a board member for A Child’s Voice Child Advocacy Center and president of the District Attorney’s Association of Georgia.