A Mercer University Law School graduate joined the Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office last week.

Sonya Johnson, 26, was sworn in as assistant district attorney Thursday morning by Superior Court Judge Jason Deal at the Dawson County Courthouse.

District Attorney Lee Darragh stood with Johnson as Deal administered Johnson’s oath of office.

“We are very pleased she is with our office. I think in my conversations with her and with my staff that she intends to make prosecution her career,” Darragh said.

Originally from Sylvester in South Georgia, Johnson attended Valdosta State and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

She is a 2008 Mercer University Law School graduate who previously worked in the six-county Southwestern Judicial Circuit as an assistant district attorney.

Johnson said she looks forward to her work in the circuit, where she’ll primarily be assigned to the courts of Judge Andrew Fuller and Kathlene Gosselin in Dawson County.

“I just wanted a change of pace. I’d always lived in South Georgia or Macon and just wanted to try something new ... and liked the area,” Johnson said.

“We’re always pleased to have people who are very interested in maintaining this sort of work, because of the good work that it is,” Darragh said.

She recently sat second chair on a highly-publicized murder case in south Georgia in which the suspect received a life sentence.