Ezekiel B. Turner
Ezekiel B. Turner (May 24, 1825 – June 2, 1888) was a United States federal judge.
Born in Putney, Vermont, Turner read law to enter the bar in 1848. He became a prosecuting attorney of St. Joseph County, Michigan in 1850, and then a justice of the peace for that county. He was in private practice in Austin, Texas from 1854 to 1861, becoming a prosecuting attorney of Brownsville, Texas, in 1863. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas from 1866 to 1867. He was the state attorney general of Texas from 1867 to 1870, and then served as a Texas state judge, first on the 32nd Judicial District of Texas from 1871 to 1876, and then on the 16th Judicial District of Texas beginning in 1876.
On November 18, 1880, Turner received a recess appointment from President Rutherford B. Hayes to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas vacated by Thomas H. DuVal. Formally nominated on December 14, 1880, Turner was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 1880, and received his commission the same day. Turner served until his death at the age of 63, in 1888, in Austin, Texas.
Sources
- Ezekiel B. Turner at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.