A legal contretemps between a Superior Court judge and a district attorney—that prompted a mistrial in a vehicular homicide case and mutual allegations of alleged misconduct—has led both to step down from the criminal case. 

John Simpson, chief judge of the Superior Court of the Coweta Circuit, issued an order on Monday recusing himself from further involvement in the case against former Georgia state trooper Anthony "A.J." Scott and asking that it be reassigned to another judge.

Simpson also filed a consent order that he jointly signed with District Attorney Herbert Cranford on Sept. 12, dismissing 12 counts of criminal contempt against the DA and assistant district attorneys Lara Myers and Matthew Swope.

Sherry Boston (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

On Monday, Cranford notified Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr that he, too, is stepping down from the Scott case and asked Carr to appoint a special prosecutor. The attorney general has named DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston as Cranford's replacement.

Cranford said in his letter to the AG that he is recusing his office from further involvement in Scott's prosecution "out of an abundance of caution to ensure that a collateral matter does not distract from the state's duty to conduct a fair trial for the victims and the accused in pursuit of justice."

Simpson issued his recusal order after the Supreme Court of Georgia on Monday granted a request by Cranford and the two ADAs to dismiss their petition asking the high court to overturn Simpson's contempt ruling and his earlier refusal to recuse.

The decisions by Cranford and Simpson to jointly step away from any further involvement in Scott's prosecution appears to resolve a series of punitive actions taken by the judge over what he claimed were Brady violations by prosecutors prior to and during Scott's trial last May.

Scott was going 90 mph when he slammed into a carful of teenagers at night, killing two and leaving two others with severe head injuries. He was not on a call and was not using his blue lights or sirens when the teens' car turned across the highway in front of him. He was fired shortly after the 2015 crash. He was tried on two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, two counts of committing a serious injury by vehicle, speeding, reckless driving and violating his oath of office.

The jury was deliberating but had deadlocked on several counts when Simpson granted the second of two mistrial motions filed by Scott's attorney, Mac Pilgrim. Pilgrim accused prosecutors of a Brady violation when they attempted to introduce an enhanced version of Scott's dash cam video of the crash, which had already been introduced as evidence, as a demonstrative aid during closing arguments.

Pilgrim then accused prosecutors of failing to inform the defense that shortly before the trial, another state trooper had developed a new theory of the crash. Prosecutors did turn over a new, altered version of Scott's dashcam video to his defense and played it for defense lawyers several times before the trial. But they didn't pass along the trooper's theory, which contradicted the official accident reports.

That failure prompted Simpson to order a mistrial, then launch his own criminal contempt inquiry of the alleged Brady violations. The judge also filed bar complaints against the three prosecutors and ordered Cranford to disqualify his office from any further involvement in Scott's prosecution. 

When prosecutors sought Simpson's recusal—claiming the judge was in violation of the state Code of Judicial Conduct for "failing to disqualify himself in a proceeding in which his impartiality is objectively and directly questioned"—Simpson denied any bias and twice refused to step aside. He then aborted his contempt inquiry, instead citing the prosecutors for 12 counts of criminal contempt.

In addition to withdrawing the contempt citations, the judge sent a letter to the State Bar of Georgia on Sept. 12 withdrawing his complaints.

Cranford's attorney, Brian Steel of Atlanta's The Steel Law Firm, declined to comment on the decision by Simpson and the DA to remove themselves from the case.

Myers' attorney, Rudjard Hayes of Sanchez Hayes & Associates in Malone, couldn't be reached for comment. But Swope's attorney, Thomas Bever of Atlanta's Chillivis Cochran & Bever, said, "We are glad to see that the criminal contempt charges have been dismissed with prejudice. It's the right result."