La Tasha Cherene Williams was born and raised by her parents in Washington, D.C. After excelling in the JROTC program and graduating from St. John’s College High School, she moved to Philadelphia in 1999 to attend Temple University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice. 

La Tasha began her studies as a pre-medicine student; however, after registering for the course titled Racial Discrimination Under the Law, she discovered her passion for the law and for helping marginalized communities. The following semester, she enrolled in the inaugural class of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program – a course that facilitated dialogue and education behind prison walls between college students and incarcerated students. Her engagement in this course solidified the new trajectory which she would embark upon over the next 20 years. One of her Inside-Out classmates was serving a life sentence that had been imposed for a crime committed when he was 16 years old. After attending the classmate’s federal court evidentiary hearing and learning more facts about his case, La Tasha made a commitment to help her classmate with proving his innocence, however long it would take. 

In her senior year of college, La Tasha externed as a legal assistant with the Defender Association of Philadelphia where she worked closely with the public defender assigned to represent clients in Philadelphia’s Drug Treatment Court and quietly observed with admiration, the Honorable Judge Louis J. Presenza, who would often allow La Tasha to serve as his courtroom clerk in the absence of his assigned clerk. These were the moments that the inspirational seeds were sown for her to set her sights on becoming a judge one day.           

After college, La Tasha worked as an early intervention specialist for ChildLink and a therapeutic support staff for the Juvenile Justice Center of Philadelphia while attending Wilmington University part-time where she earned her Master of Science degree in Administration of Justice. After earning her Master’s Degree, she taught Spanish at West Philadelphia Catholic High School.  She subsequently moved to Harrisburg, Pa. to work for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a legislative research analyst for the late State Representative Harold James. In this role, La Tasha researched existing law and drafted new legislation for enactment by the state legislature. In addition to Rep. James – Chairman of the Gaming Oversight Committee, she also worked for Rep. Ron Waters – Chairman of the Pa. Legislative Black Caucus, and the late Rep. Babette Josephs – Chairwoman of the State Government Committee. La Tasha is most proud of her contribution to enacted legislation requiring the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab to test evidence from unsolved backlogged sexual assault cases and her innovativeness in creating the annual Pa. Legislative Black Caucus Scholarship Program. She also used her policy background in her role as an adjunct sociology instructor at the Community College of Philadelphia.   

While continuing her steadfast advocacy for her Inside-Out classmate, La Tasha expanded her activism and began helping several other life-sentenced prisoners with proving their claims of innocence. She helped their families with identifying and retaining competent legal counsel, organized rallies, planned fundraisers, researched legal issues, drafted pleadings to the Court, located and interviewed witnesses, attended court hearings, and managed media relations to bring awareness to their closed cases. After years of advocating, La Tasha believed that she could be even more impactful as a licensed attorney and sought the advice of a trusted mentor who helped guide her next steps. 

In preparation of the arduous law school application process, La Tasha enrolled in cosmetology school to secure a license so that she would have a means of financially supporting herself while matriculating in law school and ultimately landed a position with Jazzy Ladies Day Spa in Mechanicsburg, Pa. She was accepted into several law schools to include one in her hometown of Washington, D.C. that offered her a full scholarship; however, with her heart and home in Susquehanna Township, Pa., she chose to attend Widener University Commonwealth Law School. 

During law school, La Tasha represented clients pro bono as a Certified Legal Intern with the Lehigh County Public Defender’s Office, assisted Attorney Damian J. DeStefano with the day-to-day operations of his criminal and family law practice, and honed her legal research skills with Holt Law Firm as a post-conviction law clerk. She also gained experience in civil litigation while working at Goldberg Katzman PC, Harrisburg, Pa., and administrative law while working for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. La Tasha successfully spearheaded several initiatives while serving on the executive board of Widener’s Black Law Students Association including peer-run academic workshops and the first-ever Widener’s Got Talent Show where attendees gained entrance by bringing canned goods for donation to the Harrisburg YWCA.   

Upon graduation from law school, La Tasha clerked for the Honorable Maria Musti Cook, Judge of the York County Court of Common Pleas, where she concentrated in search and seizure laws, criminal appeals research and legal writing. She wrote dozens of trial court opinions which the Superior Court did not disturb on appeal. La Tasha later clerked for Commonwealth Court Judge – Honorable Lori A. Dumas – where she focused her writing and research on municipal law, land use appeals and administrative law. In her previous roles as a Franklin County Senior Assistant District Attorney and York County Assistant District Attorney, La Tasha prosecuted hundreds of cases at every stage of adjudication including preliminary hearings, bail hearings, suppression hearings, habeas corpus hearings, negotiated plea hearings, misdemeanor bench trials, felony jury trials, sentencings, and post-sentence hearings. 

In 2021, La Tasha entered the race for Dauphin County judge to assume the seat vacated by the Honorable Judge Jeanine Turgeon. La Tasha won the Democratic nomination with 45% of the vote at the May 18, 2021, 4-way primary race. At the general election on November 2, 2021, the Republican nominee – Jeff Engle – inched ahead of La Tasha by 6000 votes to claim the judgeship.

In March 2022, La Tasha opened Williams Law Group, LLC – a full-service boutique criminal defense law firm based in Harrisburg. La Tasha also serves as adjunct faculty at Lebanon Valley College where she teaches a constitutional law course.  In December 2022, by unanimous vote, La Tasha was appointed as a Commissioner for the 8th Ward of Susquehanna Township; for term ended December 2023.

In 2023, La Tasha entered the race for Dauphin County judge to assume the seat vacated by the Honorable Judge Richard A. Lewis. In the general election, the republican nominee will be Courtney Powell inched ahead of La Tash by 2000 votes to claim the judgeship.

La Tasha is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Berean Presbyterian Church, and the Dauphin County, Franklin County, York County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. She also serves as the Board President of Art For Justice, Incorporated, Board Vice-President of The Legal Kid Foundation, and previously volunteered her time as a mentor with the Pa.U.S. Middle District’s Court-Assisted Re-Entry (C.A.R.E.) Court program. She enjoys volunteering her time with the Harrisburg chapter of Young Women’s Empowerment Academy (YWEA) and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Mock Trial Program for high school students. La Tasha resides in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County and in her spare time enjoys, listening to urban novel audiobooks, and family game nights.

What happened with La Tasha’s Inside-Out classmate and some of the other prisoners with claims of actual innocence?