The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has chosen Judge Gary Lumpkin as Presiding Judge to serve a two-year term beginning January 1, 2025. He succeeds Judge Scott Rowland, who has served as Presiding Judge since July of 2021. A native of Sentinel, Oklahoma, Judge Lumpkin was appointed to the Court in January of 1989 by Governor Henry Bellmon. He graduated from Weatherford High School in 1964, attended Northwestern State College, Alva and graduated from Southwestern State College in Weatherford with a degree in Business Administration in 1968. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University Of Oklahoma School Of Law in 1974 and served as Associate District Judge and District Judge in Marshal County for seven years prior to his appointment to the Court of Criminal Appeals.
The Court has also elected Vice-Presiding Judge William Musseman to a second two-year term in that role. Born and raised in Tulsa, he was appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2022, after serving as a Special Judge and District Judge in Tulsa and Pawnee Counties for thirteen years prior to his appointment. He pursued his college education at Northeastern State University where he played soccer, graduating in 1995. Judge Musseman earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma School of Law in 1997. He served 11 years as an Assistant District Attorney in the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecuting trial attorney and supervisor before his appointment as Special Judge in 2009.