(Jan. 12) – Phillip Zeigler, judge of the 52nd District Court in Gatesville, will complete his 26th year of public service in January and hang up his robe.

Zeigler, the senior Democrat in Coryell County, began his career as district attorney and ascended to the bench behind the late Bob Cummings. He has held the bench for 18 years.

Zeigler told News 10 in a prepared statement that he has decided not to seek another term when his current one expires in December.

He stated he has discussed the decision with his family and already has informed his staff and attorneys who practice in his court of his retirement.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Zeigler is a Gatesville native. He graduated from Gatesville High School in 1963 and completed law school at the University of Texas in 1972. He became district attorney when Cummings moved from that office to the district court bench in 1983. Then he followed Cummings onto the bench in 1991.

Assistant county attorney Trent Farrell will succeed Zeigler in January because Farrell is the only candidate listed on the ballot for the job.

But Zeigler still has a mountain of work to do. In just the coming year there are four capital murder cases on his docket, one of them slated to begin on Monday Jan. 14.

Zeigler said he plans to serve on the visiting judge list after his retirement. He likely also will pitch in at his wife’s legal business.

Mary Jane Zeigler operates Coryell Land and Abstract Co., in both Gatesville and Copperas Cove.

The couple has two grown sons, one of whom also is an attorney.