Judges Under Investigation: These Georgia Jurists Are Facing Ethics Cases for Alleged Violations
Alleged inappropriate social media exchanges, extramarital affairs with court staff, physically attacking inmates and soliciting funds resulted in eight judges being formally charged with violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct between Jan. 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. Another six judges have had their ethical misconduct cases dissolved during the same timeframe.
April 07, 2022 at 12:07 PM
19 minute read
Judicial EthicsWhat You Need to Know
- Between Jan. 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, eight judges have had alleged violations of judicial misconduct investigated by the Judicial Qualifications Commission of Georgia.
- Alleged misconduct ranges from inappropriate social media exchanges and an extramarital affair with court staff to pointing a rifle at law enforcement, physically attacking a shackled inmate and more.
- Some judges also face criminal investigations, charges and sentences.
It's been said American judges are often held to a higher standard in order to preserve "the integrity and independence of the judiciary," according to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. But over the course of the past year and three months, multiple Georgia judges have been named in a variety of ethics complaints, with alleged offenses including inappropriate social media exchanges, an extramarital affair with court staff, pointing a rifle at law enforcement, physically attacking a shackled inmate and more. Between Jan. 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, eight Peach State judges have had alleged violations of judicial misconduct investigated by the Judicial Qualifications Commission of Georgia.
In Photos: These Powerful JQC Watchdogs Help Decide the Fate of Judges Facing Ethics Complaints
Some of the judges also have taken part in proceedings with the JQC Hearing Panel, which recommends punishment, including removal from office, if it determines violations of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct occurred. However, their fate rests with the Supreme Court of Georgia, which retains final decision-making authority in the misconduct matters. Scroll through to see the judges named in formal ethics charges, submitted by the JQC Investigative Panel to the commission's Hearing Panel since January 2021.
Judges Named in Formal Charges Between From January 2021 to March 2022
Judges Behaving Badly: A Look at Georgia Judicial Misconduct
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Gerald Johnson
Appointed to the Habersham County Magistrate Court by Judges Chan Caudell and Russell W. Smith in July 2014, Chief Judge Gerald W. Johnson had been serving his second elected term when the Supreme Court of Georgia suspended him on Oct. 21, 2021 for alleged ethics violations. He's spent the past five months sidelined following a domestic dispute with his wife that involved property damage, a discharged assault rifle and a request to eliminate proof of the incident, according to court records. According to formal charges submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on March 31, after Johnson fell asleep on his wife's birthday, a domestic dispute between the pair spiraled into a four-count ethics violation of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct. Johnson's alleged misconduct included "the domestic dispute with his wife, placing a gun to his head and threatening to kill himself, discharging an AR-15 outside his home in a residential neighborhood while intoxicated, pointing an AR-15 at a law enforcement officer acting in the lawful discharge of the officer's official duties, breaking the windshield of his wife's vehicle, and requesting that a law enforcement officer turn off the officer's recording device while he was in the process of investigating the incident," according to an inquiry written by Judicial Qualifications Commission director Charles Boring. Johnson's actions implicated three Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A and 1.2B Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary and 1.3 Respecting the Prestige of Judicial Office, according to the JQC inquiry. At no point did authorities arrest Johnson during the series of events on Oct. 18, 2021. However, the high court suspended the judge from the magistrate bench three days later. Johnson has until April 30 to file an answer to the formal charges alleged in the JQC inquiry. His failure to answer the formal charges "constitutes an admission of the factual allegations," according to the probing commission. |
Christian Coomer
Appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals in October 2018 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal, Judge Christian Coomer had been set to serve through December 2026 after winning election in the June 9, 2020, general election. Instead, the Supreme Court of Georgia suspended Coomer with pay from the intermediate appellate bench in January 2021, as the JQC investigated dozens of alleged ethical breaches. Since then, retired Judge Herbert Phipps has been filling in on the bench for Coomer. The JQC first announced 26 counts of alleged misconduct against Coomer in December 2020 but submitted an amended 34-count inquiry to the JQC Hearing Panel on March 18 after conducting a full investigation. The alleged violations included the Coomer "improperly drafting wills for [a] client that benefitted Judge Coomer and his family, borrowing large sums of money from [the client] with terms that were not fair and reasonable, continually violating the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, and behaving unethically toward [the client] after Judge Coomer became a Court of Appeals Judge," according to the JQC inquiry. "Coomer also ran afoul of the Code by repeatedly violating campaign finance laws and by making misrepresentations and omissions on other financial documents, including those governed by federal law." Coomer's alleged actions repeatedly implicated three Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary, and 4.2B Campaign Conduct, according to the JQC inquiry. But the former Georgia state representative denied the allegations, contending the JQC charges "misstate the facts and the law" and "significantly overstep the JQC's jurisdiction." In December, Coomer agreed to settle the ethics complaint by paying a $25,000 fine, the largest the state has ever imposed against a judge. But that won't stop him from likely becoming the first state appellate court judge to stand trial for alleged ethics violations. On March 8, the Supreme Court of Georgia denied Coomer's January petition to stay proceedings against him on the grounds his alleged misconduct occurred before he became a judge. |
Manzie Broxton
Elected Washington County chief magistrate judge in November 2020, Manzie Broxton had been set to serve through December 2024. But in his 10 months on the bench, Broxton accumulated 30 counts of alleged judicial misconduct from ethics complaints filed against him in April, August and September of 2021. After being suspended by the Supreme Court of Georgia on Sept. 24, 2021, he's sat sidelined as the JQC continues its investigation. The alleged misconduct included Broxton directing a law enforcement officer to postdate a warrant dismissal, causing a woman to remain in jail without due process to "teach her a lesson" and making improper attempts to mediate disputes and discourage parties from filing lawsuits to avoid paying filing fees. The judge, who also is a reverend at a Sandersville church, also improperly allowed a church member "to perform a critical case count project for the Magistrate Court of Washington County regarding reporting required by the Administrative Office of the Courts," per the inquiry submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on Jan. 20. The ethical misconduct allegations claim Broxton issued verbal orders on an eviction matter, issued felony arrest warrants based upon an unsworn citizen complaint and, without holding a pre-warrant application hearing, failed to follow applicable laws to decide issues based on proper legal bases. Broxton's alleged actions implicated nine Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying with the Law, 1.2A Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary, 2.2 Impartiality and Fairness, 2.4A External Influences on Judicial Conduct, 2.5A Performing Administrative Responsibilities, 2.6A Ensuring the Right to be Heard, 2.9A Assuring Fair Hearings and Averting Ex Parte Communications, 2.11A Disqualification and Recusal, 3.11B Financial Activities and Business Dealings, according to the JQC inquiry. Broxton filed an answer to the formal charges on Feb. 19. In it, he extended his "sincerest apologies if any of his actions were taken out of context," before stating his conduct had been "performed with good intentions, to assist the citizens of Washington County, and without malice." His ethics case remains under investigation. |
Christina Peterson
Voters elected Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson to the bench in the June 9, 2020 primary and again in the November 2020 general election. But after six months on the job, she accumulated five ethics complaints. In connection with the complaints, the JQC charged Peterson with four counts of violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct in July 2021. Two months later, she received 18 additional counts of judicial violations stemming from three more ethics complaints submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on Sept. 28, 2021. The initial violations centered on since-deleted social media posts made by Peterson in 2020 that allegedly leveraged her status as a judge-elect to promote events at Buckhead restaurants and solicit birthday gifts of money. Peterson also is alleged to have tweeted relationship advice that referenced "African-American male genitals," per the inquiry. According to the inquiry submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel last July, Peterson's alleged misconduct included the judge making posts to her Instagram account "advertising for an event at Rose Bar using her judicial status as part of the advertisement, ... publicly asking for money via Cash App, ... advertising for an event at Tribeca with wine and food specials using her judicial status as part of the advertisement, and having available for viewing on her Twitter account the 'Word of the Day' video where she discusses 'homeless-sexuals,' and makes inappropriate sexual commentary." The additional allegations against Peterson last September stemmed from allegedly breached security rules and subsequent emails the probate judge allegedly sent after she allegedly let civilians into the locked courthouse after hours and against law enforcement's orders in April 2021. From allegedly "unnecessarily activating the emergency panic button in her office ... because her deputy escort was a few minutes late" to allegedly offering to represent her neighbors in a 2017 homeowners' association dispute for free and then pocketing a $70,000 settlement without informing her clients, Peterson is facing a variety of allegations in her second JQC misconduct investigation. Peterson answered the initial charges with a First Amendment free-speech defense, then motioned to disqualify JQC director Charles Boring and deputy director Courtney Veal in response to her second investigation. "Because both Boring and Veal are witnesses to matters alleged in the complaints against Judge Peterson, they are prohibited by the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct from serving as advocates and must be disqualified," Peterson's motion read. Peterson's actions implicated nine Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A and 1.2B Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary, 1.3 and 1.3A Respecting the Prestige of Judicial Office, 2.5A and 2.5B Performing Administrative Responsibilities, 2.8B Adjudicating Pending Proceedings Fairly, and 2.12A Supervisory Duties, according to the JQC inquiry. With Peterson's investigations pending, the JQC Hearing Panel will decide whether to grant her disqualification motion at a future date. A final hearing date has yet to be publicly announced. |
Meng Lim
Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Meng Lim made history when voters elected him to the bench in 2014. Now, eight years after becoming the state's first Asian-American superior court judge, Lim is juggling his second reelection campaign amid two-dozen counts of alleged judicial misconduct. The JQC Investigative Panel submitted amended charges against Lim on Jan. 28, adding eight counts to an initial 16-count violation submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on July 22, 2021. The alleged misconduct hinges on four ethics complaints regarding Lim's alleged failure to disclose multiple relationships with defendants or their families, as well as an alleged romantic relationship he had with a court employee. The chief judge violated the Code of Judicial Conduct by "beginning a physical relationship with ... a Polk County Clerk's Office employee, who appeared in front of [him] to help with Spanish interpretation, offering to use her as an interpreter to entice her not to move out of state and allowing her to stay and live at his home while she was employed at the Polk County Clerk's Office," per the amended JQC inquiry. The inquiry went on to outline additional allegations of misconduct including preferential treatment toward a circuit drug court participant who also worked as an employee at Lim's restaurant. Lim also is alleged to have failed to disclose existing relationships with a criminal defendant in two cases over which he presided, as well as a conversation he allegedly had with a known witness ahead of a bond hearing. Lim's actions implicated nine Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A and 1.2B Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary and 1.3 Respecting the Prestige of Judicial Office, 2.4B External Influences on Judicial Conduct 2.4C External Influences on Judicial Conduct, 2.9A Assuring Fair Hearings and Averting Ex Parte Communications, 2.11A Disqualification and Recusal, 3.11B Financial Activities and Business Dealings, according to the JQC inquiry. As the JQC investigation into Lim's alleged misconduct continues, a deadline to exchange lists of potential witnesses to be called at a final hearing in the case has been set for April 18. Meanwhile, a May 2 deadline has been set for any charge-dispositive motions to be filed with responses due by May 23. A final hearing date in Lim's case has yet to be publicly announced. |
David Cannon Jr.
Voters elected Judge David Cannon Jr. to the Blue Ridge Circuit Superior Court in 2012, where he's kept his Cherokee County seat through two subsequent election cycles. But after just under a decade on the bench, Cannon's social media use landed him a seven-count ethics complaint for comments made following the March 2021 Atlanta spa shootings. After a Cherokee County Sheriff's Department captain paraphrased what a suspect told investigators had been his motive for the March 16 shooting spree, public backlash surrounding the comments made during the March 17 media press conference followed. Cannon took to Meta, formerly known as Facebook, a day later to respond to the negative press coverage, offering a contrary opinion. Cannon's alleged misconduct included the judge "improperly posting a link to a press conference of an active investigation of a crime which occurred in his jurisdiction and making numerous comments about statements made by a Cherokee County law enforcement officer concerning Atlanta spa shooter Robert Aaron Long," according to the JQC probe initiated March 31, 2021. "In doing so, Judge Cannon publicly supported and opined about the actions of law enforcement in a pending matter over which he had jurisdiction as a Superior Court judge," the inquiry read. "The Facebook public post, and the comments Judge Cannon made on the post about law enforcement, could reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a pending investigation and impending matter within his jurisdiction." By commenting on a pending investigation and impending matter within his jurisdiction, Cannon's social media use allegedly interfered with the performance of his judicial duties in the Blue Ridge Circuit and cast doubt on his capacity to impartially decide an issue, according to the inquiry submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on July 20, 2021. In Cannon's answer to the formal ethics charges, he denied violating the state's judicial code of conduct. Instead, he defended the social media post by asserting a First Amendment Freedom of Speech protection. Cannon's actions implicated six Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A and 1.2B Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary and 1.3 Respecting the Prestige of Judicial Office, 2.10A Judicial Statements on Pending Proceedings and Impending Matters 3.1A and 3.1C Participation in Extra-Judicial Activities, according to the JQC inquiry. With Cannon's ethics probe ongoing, a final hearing date has yet to be publicly announced. |
Cary Hays
After beating out an incumbent in the May 2016 general election, Crawford County Chief Magistrate Judge Cary "Buddy" Hays III held on to his seat in 2020. But his decision to allegedly take justice into his own hands after an inmate berated him with profanities during a December 2020 bond-determination hearing, resulted in Hays getting slapped with a three-count ethics complaint. When the defendant continued to curse at Hays while being led out of the courtroom, court records report the judge allegedly verbally engaged the restrained inmate before following the defendant into a hallway and shoving him, in violation of Georgia law. "Judge Hays physically assaulted an inmate while the inmate was handcuffed, shackled at the feet, and accompanied by a law enforcement officer," read the inquiry submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on June 21, 2021. "During the incident, Judge Hays engaged in a verbal altercation with the inmate, grabbed the inmate, and pushed the inmate into and up against a wall in the hallway outside a Crawford County Sheriff's Office and jail conference room. Judge Hays committed these acts immediately after presiding over the inmate's first appearance hearing that was held in the conference room." Hays' actions implicated three Code of Judicial Conduct rules: 1.1 Complying With the Law, 1.2A Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary and 2.8B Adjudicating Pending Proceedings Fairly, according to the JQC inquiry. "I made a mistake when I put my hand on an inmate," Hays told the Daily Report in February. "I've regretted it ever since." Taking accountability for his actions, Hays entered into an agreement with the JQC to resolve the formal charges with an unpaid, 30-day suspension and a public reprimand. The Supreme Court of Georgia approved the resolution, but turns out it came from a split JQC Hearing Panel. Citizen member Richard Hyde of Balch & Bingham in Atlanta dissented on the recommendation, disagreeing with the commission's sanction selection. "For 50 years the mandate of this commission has been to educate judges and protect the public," Hyde wrote. "This proposed agreement does neither." The Georgia Bureau of Investigations opened a criminal investigation into the incident in February, but the Crawford County District Attorney's Office decided not to pursue criminal charges against Hays, according to a news report. Hays' public reprimand took place at the Crawford County Superior Court on the afternoon of March 23 with both Hays and JQC director Boring present. Hays remains the Crawford County chief magistrate. |
Eric Norris
Meanwhile, the end of an ethics dispute nearly three years in the making might be in sight for Western Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Eric Norris. In February the JQC Hearing Panel recommended Norris publicly apologize to an Athens bail bondsman he'd allegedly berated in connection to a social media post. When the bondsman took to Meta, formerly known as Facebook, to criticize Norris' decision to grant bond to an accused rapist, Norris asked to meet with the man, who complied, according to court records. But during the July 2019 meeting in the judge's chambers, Norris allegedly chastised the bondsman, denied the man's requests to call his attorney, and ignored his requests to leave, prompting the ethics complaint. "Judge Norris held the private meeting in his judicial chambers in the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse, and had an armed courthouse deputy confiscate Mr. Owens' cell phone before having him enter the chambers for the meeting," read the inquiry submitted to the JQC Hearing Panel on March 31, 2021. "Judge Norris initially excluded people accompanying Mr. Owens from joining the meeting, and created the impression that Mr. Owens was prohibited from leaving his chambers once the meeting began." The inquiry reported that, during the roughly 30-minute meeting, Norris spoke to the bondsman in a raised voice. "Judge Norris demeaned Mr. Owens' professional and educational background, made veiled threats and remarks which caused Mr. Owens to be concerned about adverse career consequences for Mr. Owens' exercise of his constitutional right to free speech, and required Mr. Owens to sit and listen to Judge Norris' comments even though Mr. Owens had requested to leave and to have his attorney present with him," the inquiry read. Norris' actions implicated Code of Judicial Conduct rules 1.2A Promoting Public Confidence in the Judiciary and 2.8B Adjudicating Pending Proceedings Fairly, according to the JQC inquiry. In his answer to the formal ethics charges, Norris defended his decision to have the meeting, noting he "had an actual concern for the integrity and public perception of the judiciary, judicial process, and the accused in a criminal case," and that "the meeting was not itself wrongful, or the result of bad faith, or a violation of any rule of judicial conduct." JQC director Boring requested the JQC Hearing Panel recommend Norris receive a public reprimand, but Norris rebutted, seeking a private admonition instead. Following a two-day proceeding in November 2021, a split JQC Hearing Panel recommended Norris, whom former Gov. Nathan Deal appointed in April 2016, make a public apology to the bondsman in open court, with the text of the apology submitted to a local newspaper for publication. JQC Hearing Panel attorney member Jamala McFadden dissented, finding the recommended sanction a poor fit for Norris' alleged actions. "Judge Norris' conduct calls for discipline weightier than an apology and even the public reprimand that the Director seeks," McFadden wrote. "Judge Norris used his position to call a citizen to his chambers (delaying his court proceedings) where he had an armed sheriff's deputy posted near the doorway. Judge Norris used his position to deny Owens' requests to leave his chambers and get legal counsel. And he used his position to berate, belittle and bully Owens, as well as threaten his livelihood. All because Judge Norris did not agree with something Owens posted online. Such conduct is unbecoming of a judge and a misuse of the judicial office. The impact of Judge Norris' conduct on Owens was palpable." When Norris will deliver his public apology has not yet been announced. |
Cases Dissolved
During the same 15-month timeframe from January 2021 to March 2022, more than a half-dozen other judges have had their ethical misconduct cases disposed. Of those nine judges, three remain on the bench.
Most Judges Don't Survive Ethics Violations—But These 3 Did
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