Middle Georgia’s new top federal prosecutor is first Black woman in the role
Shanelle Booker has been named the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, becoming the first Black prosecutor and first woman to hold the top federal attorney’s position in Middle Georgia.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the new appointment Wednesday following the resignation of Peter Leary, who was nominated for the role in 2022 and held the position until Saturday. Booker took office Sunday.
Booker has worked as a federal prosecutor and adjunct professor at Mercer University.
Leary has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Middle Georgia for more than a decade, starting as a federal prosecutor in 2012 before rising to U.S. attorney. He will now join an Atlanta-based law firm, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
“I am honored to have served as the U.S. Attorney for the community that raised me, alongside some of the finest public servants in the country,” said Leary. “Every day the men and women of this office stand shoulder to shoulder with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to advance safety and promote justice.”
The Middle District of Georgia’s prosecution team serves 70 counties in Georgia, which includes the cities of Albany, Athens, Columbus, Macon and Valdosta, with an approximate population of more than 2 million people, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
‘Active in the community in Macon’
Booker, from Riverdale, was a clerk for a federal judge in Arkansas after obtaining her degree in law from Northwestern University School of Law, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. She also served as a public defender and managing attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit Defender’s Office.
Booker joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in Middle Georgia in 2015 and has prosecuted high-profile violent crime, child exploitation, sex trafficking, public corruption and fraud cases, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. She has been the coordinator for elder justice, civil rights and hate crimes for the prosecutor’s office, the deputy criminal division chief, the acting administrative officer and the first assistant U.S. attorney.
She has been an adjunct criminal justice professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Mercer University since 2020. She regularly trains the law enforcement community on firearm conversion devices and machine guns; fentanyl and armed drug trafficking; hate crimes; elder abuse and others, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Booker is active in the community in Macon, the federal prosecutor’s office said. She enjoys mentoring young girls who have been committed to the Macon regional Youth Detention Center through the Girl Squad Mentoring Program and the United Way of Central Georgia’s Read United Program. These programs focus on school-based, grade-level reading support and tutoring, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
She also works with the Just the Beginning Foundation, which inspires law underrepresented students to pursue law careers, and volunteers with the Georgia High School Mock Trial Competition. Booker is also a member of the Bibb Mount Zion Baptist Church and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
She was formerly a board member of the Central Georgia Empowerment Fund, which builds capacity and financial sustainability of non-profit organizations that serve the Black community, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
“It is an honor for me to serve the citizens of the Middle District of Georgia in this leadership role, and to ensure the good work of the office continues seamlessly,” said Booker. “Upholding justice and ensuring the safety of all is our office’s utmost objective, alongside our strong law enforcement and community partners across the Middle District of Georgia.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Middle Georgia’s new top federal prosecutor is first Black woman in the role."
