Gov. Brian Kemp appointed a new judge Friday to the Griffin Judicial Circuit Superior Court.

Ben Miller, Jr. will fill the vacancy created by Mack Crawford's resignation, Kemp said in a prepared statement.

"In a competitive selection process, Ben Miller, Jr. clearly stood out among the candidates, and I am honored to appoint him to serve on the Griffin Judicial Circuit Superior Court," Kemp said. "He has the right credentials, temperament, and willingness to serve, and I know that he will excel as a member of the Judiciary."

Miller is currently a Spalding County Juvenile Court judge. He has also served as an attorney, solicitor and municipal court judge. He earned his bachelor's degree from North Georgia College and law degree from John Marshall Law School.

Crawford was required to resign as part of a plea deal with the state attorney general reducing felony charges to a single misdemeanor offense for the theft of $15,675 in unclaimed court registry funds. Kemp's acceptance of Crawford's March 1 resignation gave the judge three more weeks of judicial pay and benefits as he begins 12 months of unsupervised probation. The base salary for the state's superior court judges is $126,265, according to the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

Crawford repaid the funds he was accused of stealing in 2018, saying he did so because he was misled into thinking that repaying the money would close the matter. He and his attorneys insist the funds—which were deposited in the court registry in 2002 for a former client—were owed to him as legal fees. He recused from most of his cases in March 2018 while the matter was being investigated, and the other judges on the circuit picked up the extra work.