The state’s 31 District Attorneys have recognized Assistant District Attorney General John C. Zimmermann (16th District serving Cannon and Rutherford counties) with the McCutchen Award, which was established 16 years ago in memory of Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference Director Pat McCutchen.
“This year’s recipient knew Pat and was called on many times to assist the Conference,” said Conference President General Jimmy Dunn (4th District serving Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties). “John has been an instrumental part of the Conference’s work and has shown his dedication to justice for many years.”
This award is given annually to a prosecutor who shows an extraordinary embrace of McCutchen’s vision of the Conference as Tennessee’s definitive voice for criminal justice.
“Pat McCutchen was an inspirational leader, and it is a great honor to know that my fellow prosecutors are willing to place me in that same category,” Zimmermann said.
Zimmermann served on active duty with the U.S. Army from 1974–78, became an Assistant State Attorney General from 1978–82 and successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on the first day of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s tenure. He was an Assistant District Attorney General for the 20th Judicial District serving Davidson County from 1982–2014, where he handled homicide and drug cases, and served as director of the drug task force. Zimmermann retired from the Tennessee National Guard in 2005 with the rank of colonel and joined General Jennings Jones in 2014, where he currently serves as an Assistant District Attorney for the 16th Judicial District.
As an Assistant District Attorney General, Zimmermann worked closely with McCutchen and has been an instrumental part of the Conference’s work for many years. He is seen as an expert on some of the most complicated Tennessee statutes – wiretapping, forfeiture, narcotics and gangs.
Zimmermann received his Bachelor of Science degree from MTSU in 1971 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Tennessee in 1974. The Nashville native and his wife, Ann, are the parents of two adult children and grandparents of two grandchildren.