Rash of judges stepping down after misconduct

Rash of judges stepping down after misconduct

By Bill Torpy and Bill Rankin
brankin@ajc.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One sent a message over Facebook to a criminal defendant, saying he’d give her behind-the-scenes advice on her case. Another was caught having sex in a parked car with the public defender assigned to his courtroom. Another inappropriately touched a prosecutor and investigator after they sat in his lap posing for a photo.


Staff 2005 photo After hearing from the Judicial Qualifications Commission, Fayette County Judge Johnnie Caldwell resigned this year amid allegations he repeatedly sexually harassed a female attorney.
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These were not defendants. All three were chief judges in their circuits with decades on the bench.

Since 2008, at least 16 judges across the state have resigned under duress, most recently two veteran chief judges from Cobb and Fulton counties. Some stepped down under a cloud of suspicion. Others left amid scandal or even outright criminality.

Allegations include sexual improprieties, harassment, voter fraud, giving state computers to family members and gross intemperance on the bench.

Why is there so much disorder in the courts?

“This is the worst rash of judicial misconduct I’ve ever seen,” said former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher. “There have been far too many, and it doesn’t reflect well on the judiciary. You can’t explain some of this conduct.”

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