J. Daniel Breen

Who is J. Daniel Breen?

John Daniel Breen is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Breen received a B.A. from Spring Hill College in 1972 and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1975. He was in private practice in Jackson from 1975 to 1991. He served as U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee from 1991 to 2003 before being nominated to his current position.

On January 7, 2003, Breen was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee vacated by Julia Smith Gibbons. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 2003 and received his commission on March 14, 2003. He became chief judge in 2013.

Breen presided over the case of Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, the perpetrators in the Barack Obama assassination plot in Tennessee. In 2010, Breen convicted the two of conspiracy to murder Obama and other African-American people and sentenced Cowart and Schlesselman to 14 and 10 years in federal prison respectively; both suspects pled guilty to conspiracy to their charges.