Margaret E. Heap has been reappointed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia following her selection by the U.S. District Court judges for the district. Heap was sworn in on December 15 in a ceremony conducted by Judge R. Stan Baker, with the appointment taking effect immediately.
Heap expressed gratitude for her team and law enforcement partners, stating, “The excellent staff in the Southern District of Georgia and our outstanding law enforcement partners continue to work together to keep our communities safe. I am honored to serve alongside these dedicated professionals on behalf of our citizens as we work together to uphold the law and defend access to justice throughout this district.”
She previously took office as U.S. Attorney on August 18, 2025, after being sworn in by Judge J. Randal Hall and appointed interim U.S. Attorney by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Heap’s career includes service as Chairman and Vice Chair of Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Paroles, where she was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp in January 2021. Her legal career began in 1986 as a Volunteer Coordinator and Victim Advocate with Chatham County District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program before earning her Juris Doctorate from Mercer University Law School in 1992.
She worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, prosecuting felonies, then served from 1995 to 2010 in the Eastern Judicial Circuit first as Assistant District Attorney and later for two terms as District Attorney. In recognition of her work, she was named “District Attorney of the Year” by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia in 2019.
As chief federal law enforcement officer for the Southern District of Georgia, Heap oversees prosecutions across a jurisdiction that includes major cities such as Savannah, Augusta, Brunswick, Statesboro, Dublin, and Waycross—covering more than one-quarter of Georgia’s counties and serving over 1.6 million people with a staff of about 70 attorneys and support personnel.
