Governor Rick Perry announced the appointment Wednesday of Becky Gregory of Dallas as judge of the 283rd Judicial District Court serving Dallas County. Gregory replaces Vic Cunningham who resigned as Judge to run for the Dallas County District Attorney post. Gregory will be a candidate on the Republican ticket in 2006 while Rick Magnis has filed to run as a Democrat.

Gregory is First Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas. She has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for more than 18 years and previously served in the Northern District of Texas, where she acquired expertise in civil, criminal and appellate cases. From 1998 to 2001, Gregory was a visiting associate professor at SMU Dedman School of Law. While there she taught courses including evidence, federal criminal trial practice, directed the Trial Advocacy Program and was a supervising attorney for the Civil Clinic. She serves on the National and Regional Governance Board for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the steering committee for the North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force and the executive board for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Association. She was selected to work with the Justice Department in Washington D.C. on cases involving international terrorism. During her tenure with the United States Attorney's office, she received numerous achievement awards.

A graduate with honors of the University of Dallas, she received a law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law, where she was associate editor of the law journal. Gregory has published work on topics including areas of constitutional law.

Mrs. Gregory previously was a top contender for appointment as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and had been encouraged by local Republicans to run for District Attorney when Bill Hill announced not to run for re-election. She ultimately decided not to make that race. Now, she will stand for re-election in 2006 as a sitting District Judge.