[4] He gained national attention for several notable cases which were featured on TV series specials such as CNN Presents,[5] Dateline NBC,[6] A&E's American Justice[7] and Forensic Files.
Previously, Poston was an assistant district attorney for Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit and the former president of Catoosa Country Chamber of Commerce.
[16] Poston started a solo law firm in 1989 after briefly working for the Offices of Clifton Patty, and he has served as a juvenile court judge since 1997.
Ridley claimed that no one in Ringgold knew of her condition because of her family's opposition to their marriage, as well as Virginia's fear she would have a seizure in public, and therefore, she decided to live as a recluse.
After the testimony of defense witness Dr. Braxton Wannamaker, an expert on seizure disorders, and the lack of a motive from the prosecution, the jury acquitted Ridley of all charges.
The radio storytelling program Snap Judgment had Poston explaining how he defended Ridley and discovered Virginia's documents in the episode "Dirty Work" on November 27, 2015.
The prosecution maintained that Ridley suffocated her, citing his strange, seemingly unemotional behavior upon reporting Virginia's death and speaking about her to others.
[21] Poston represented Byron "Low Tax" Looper in the Cumberland County case of the murder of Tennessee State Senator Tommy Burks in 1998.
When the judge lost patience from the slew of delays, Looper was finally represented through trial by Poston and Ron Cordova of California.
[6] In 2002, Poston represented Ray Brent Marsh of the Tri-State Crematory who had been charged with two counts theft by deception for each body that was identified on his property in Noble, Georgia.
[27] 334 bodies and remains of the deceased had been discovered at the Tri-State Crematory, a family-owned business that Marsh had been managing after his father's health failed.
Poston put forth an aggressive defense for Marsh, threatening to require Walker County to conduct and pay for a costly trial that could potentially take months, and was partially successful in a change of venue effort in securing that the jury would be acquired from out of the area, which would have added great additional cost to Walker County.
After the high court ruling, Poston was able to arrange for Marsh to accept a plea deal of a 12-year sentence in prison, with eligibility for parole.
Poston proved that one of his clients was picking up her child from daycare several miles away in another state when the government claimed she was selling the operative pseudoephedrine.
Finally, for another young client arrested upon the return from his honeymoon Poston was able to prove he was working in a Subway sandwich shop on Long Island, New York when the government said he was in North Georgia, "knowingly" selling pseudoephedrine for use in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
While Judge Cochran won the 2012 reelection handily during the investigation, the discovery of the pre-signed warrants started speculation that the Chief Magistrate would step down.
Before this happened, however, Poston's client was stopped in her car at night near her home by a Murray County deputy, who was almost immediately joined by his Sergeant, the judge's cousin.