Dawn Beam | |
Office: | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi |
Appointer: | Phil Bryant |
Term Start: | January 1, 2016 |
Predecessor: | Randy G. Pierce |
Birth Date: | 15 May 1964 |
Birth Place: | Marks, Mississippi, U.S. |
Spouse: | Stephen Beam |
Children: | 5 |
Education: | University of Mississippi (BA, JD) |
Dawn Henderson Beam (born May 15, 1964) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Dawn Beam was born May 15, 1964, in Marks, Mississippi.[1] She earned a Bachelor of Arts in business from the University of Mississippi and a law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law. She was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 1989.[2]
Previously, Beam was a judge for the 10th Chancery District in Mississippi. She was re-elected on November 4, 2014, for a term that began in 2015 and would have expired in 2018.
On December 28, 2015, Governor Phil Bryant appointed Beam to fill the remaining 10-month term of Justice Randy G. Pierce, who resigned on February 1, 2016.[3]
In her early career, she worked extensively in child support enforcement. Her work as a chancellor and as a county prosecutor included protection of abused and neglected children. After her appointment to the Supreme Court, she continued work for the protection of children as co-chair of the Commission on Children's Justice and ReNewMS. She spearheaded efforts to organize Rescue 100 programs to train more foster parents.
Beam makes her home in Sumrall. She is a member of Sumrall United Methodist Church in Lamar County. She is married to Dr. Stephen Beam. They have five children.
As of 2016, her sister is serving a prison sentence for multiple federal counts of fraud, mail fraud and money laundering after admitting to swindling veterans and the elderly out of more than $2 million.[4]