SAVANNAH — Interim U.S. Attorney Southern District of Georgia Margaret E. Heap had the interim tag removed when she took the oath of office Monday in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker.
Heap was appointed as interim by Attorney General Pamela Bondi and sworn August 18, 2025 by U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall.
Her appointment is effective immediately following the December 15 appointment by the U.S. District Court judges of the Southern District.
“The excellent staff in the Southern District of Georgia and our outstanding law enforcement partners continue to work together to keep our communities safe,” said U.S. Attorney Heap. “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.”
Mrs. Heap served as the Chairman and Vice Chair of Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Paroles. She was appointed January 19, 2021 to the Board by Governor Brian Kemp.
In 1986, Heap began her legal career as a Volunteer Coordinator and Victim Advocate with the Chatham County District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program. After attending Mercer University Law School, she received her Juris Doctorate in 1992 and went on to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, where she prosecuted felonies in the Superior and Juvenile Court.
From 1995-2010, Heap served the citizens in the Eastern Judicial Circuit as an Assistant District Attorney and later served two terms as the District Attorney. In 2019, she was named the “District Attorney of the Year” by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia.
As U.S. Attorney, she is the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Southern District of Georgia, which covers 43 of Georgia’s 159 counties and a population of more than 1.6 million people. The district includes the cities of Savannah, Augusta, Brunswick, Statesboro, Dublin, and Waycross.
She leads a team of approximately 70 attorneys and staff prosecuting federal crimes in the district and defending the United States in civil cases in the U.S. District Court.
