T J Donovan

Vocation

Family

American attorney and politician, serving as Vermont's State Attorney General since 5 January 2017. He previously served for ten years as State's Attorney of Chittenden County, the most populous county in Vermont. During his 2012 campaign for Vermont Attorney General, Donovan acknowledged his arrest for assault as a teenager. In a plea bargain, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and Donovan received a deferred sentence. His record was expunged after he completed the terms of his plea agreement. Donovan pointed to this experience as a critical moment in his personal development, when he began to act more maturely and think about his future. Donovan is known for starting the Rapid Intervention Community Court (RICC) in Chittenden County. This is an award winning criminal justice program made available to non-violent offenders whose crimes have been driven by addiction or mental illness. During his first month in office, Attorney General Donovan joined sixteen other states in an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief opposes President Trump's executive order banning immigrants from certain Muslim countries. Donovan also joined Republican Governor Phil Scott in proposing legislation to require the governor's approval before state and local police could conduct federal immigration enforcement work. A member of the Democratic Party, Donovan challenged incumbent Vermont attorney general William Sorrell for the Democratic nomination to become the Vermont Attorney General in the elections of 2012. His campaign that year was centered on the prescription drug abuse epidemic throughout Vermont. In 2014, he ran for re-election as state's attorney of Chittenden County, choosing not to challenge Sorrell a second time. Link to Wikipedia biography