Nancy Grace

Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist.

Grace graduated from Macon's Windsor Academy in 1977.

She attended Valdosta State University, and later received a B.A. from Mercer University.

As a student, Grace was a fan of Shakespearean literature, and intended to become an English professor after graduating from college.

But after the murder of her fiancé Keith Griffin in a workplace shooting when she was 19, Grace decided to enroll in law school and went on to become a felony prosecutor and a supporter of victims' rights.

Grace received her Juris Doctor from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer, where she was a member of the law review.

She went on to earn a Master of Laws in constitutional and criminal law from New York University.

She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Jacksonville State University in 2023.

She has written articles and opinion pieces for legal periodicals, including the American Bar Association Journal.

She worked as a clerk for a federal court judge and practiced antitrust and consumer protection law with the Federal Trade Commission.

She taught litigation at the Georgia State University College of Law and business law at GSU's School of Business.

She is part of Mercer University's board of trustees and adopted a section of the street surrounding the law school.

Grace worked for nearly a decade in the Atlanta-Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney's office as Special Prosecutor.

Her work focused on felony cases involving serial murder, serial rape, serial child molestation, and serial arson.

She left the prosecutors' office after the District Attorney she had been working under decided not to run for reelection.

The 1990 murder conviction was, nonetheless, upheld.

After leaving the Fulton County prosecutors' office, Grace was approached by and accepted an offer from Court TV founder Steven Brill to do a legal commentary show alongside Johnnie Cochran.

When Cochran left the show, Grace was moved to a solo trial coverage show on Court TV, hosting Trial Heat from 1996 to 2004 then Closing Arguments from 2004 to 2007, replacing Lisa Bloom and James Curtis, both of whom were hosting Trial Heat at that point.

While a prosecutor, Grace was reprimanded by the Supreme Court of Georgia for withholding evidence and for making improper statements in a 1997 arson and murder case.

The court overturned the conviction in that case and found that Grace's behavior "demonstrated her disregard of the notions of due process and fairness and was inexcusable."

She hosted Nancy Grace, a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's Closing Arguments from 1996 to 2007.

She also co-wrote the book Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. Grace was also the arbiter of Swift Justice with Nancy Grace in the syndicated courtroom reality show's first season.

Grace was formerly a prosecutor in the Atlanta-Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney's office.

She frequently discusses issues from what she describes as a victims' rights standpoint, with an outspoken style that has brought her both praise and criticism.

Nancy Grace was born in Macon, Georgia, the youngest of three children, to factory worker Elizabeth Grace and Mac Grace, a freight agent for Southern Railway.

Her older siblings are brother Mac Jr. and sister Ginny.

The Graces are longtime members of Macon's Liberty United Methodist Church, where Elizabeth plays the organ and Mac Sr. was once a Sunday School teacher.

A 2005 federal appeals opinion by Judge William H. Pryor Jr. found that Grace "played fast and loose" with core ethical rules in a 1990 triple murder case, including the withholding of evidence and allowing a police detective to testify falsely under oath.

In February 2005, she began hosting a regular primetime legal analysis show called Nancy Grace on CNN Headline News (now HLN) in addition to her Court TV show.

On May 9, 2007, Grace announced that she would be leaving Court TV to focus more on her CNN Headline News Program and charity work.

She did her last show on Court TV on June 19, 2007.

Grace has a distinctive interviewing style mixing vocal questions with multimedia stats displays.

The Foundation of American Women in Radio & Television has presented Nancy Grace with two Gracie Awards for her Court TV show.

While still hosting Nancy Grace, she also hosted Swift Justice with Nancy Grace which premiered September 13, 2010, and ran until May 2011.

Grace left the show due to productions moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles.

In September 2011, Judge Jackie Glass, who is known for presiding over the O. J. Simpson robbery case, took over Grace's place.

After the controversial verdict finding Casey Anthony not guilty, her Nancy Grace show on HLN had its highest ratings ever in the 8:00p.m. and 9:00p.m. hour slots on Tuesday, July 5, 2011.

The show continued for one more season and ceased production in 2012.

Grace had been covering the Casey Anthony story for years.

On October 13, 2016, at the end of her contract, Grace hosted her last show.