TV crime drama fans are being misled, according to Jerry Scott, agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Statewide Crime Scene Program and coordinator of the GBI’s Body Recovery Team.

Scott was speaking at “Guns 101: What journalists need to know to shoot straight and get it right when reporting on firearms,” a seminar at the Georgia Press Association offices Thursday.

After presenting diagrams showing possible lines of travel for bullets and close up pictures of gun shots that look like those in TV crime shows such as CSI, Law & Order and Castle, Scott was asked,  what’s his favorite crime show?

“I don’t watch any of them,” he said. Of their realism, he added, “They’re not even close.”

Read more »

A judge dropped disorderly conduct charges against a woman arrested for cursing at police, according to Cynthia Counts, one of her defense attorneys.

Counts called the decision by Cobb County State Court Judge Melodie Clayton a “First Amendment victory.” Counts delivered that news to the Daily Report in an email with this subject line: You can say “F— the police” without violating the law.”

According to Counts, Amy Barnes admits to making obscene statements Easter Sunday 2012, when she saw two Cobb County police officers questioning a burglary suspect about 7 p.m. on Austell Road. As she was riding by on her bicycle, Barnes said, among other things, “F— the police,” and “police suck,” Counts said, calling the statements “a protest of police abuse.”

“Upon hearing her statements, the officers left the suspect to pursue Ms. Barnes, who they stopped and arrested,” said Counts. The burglary suspect got away. Barnes was arrested and taken to jail, charged with one count of disorderly conduct under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-39(a)(4), which bars “without provocation” the use of “obscene and vulgar and profane language in the presence of a person under the age of 14 years which threatens an immediate breach of the peace.”

Read more »

The University of Georgia School of Law has named its graduation keynote speaker: Judge Beverly B. Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

A law school news release said Martin is a 1981 Georgia alumna. Prior to joining the Eleventh Circuit in 2010, she served for nearly a decade as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Georgia. Martin served as a U.S. attorney and assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Georgia from 1994 to 2000 and represented the state of Georgia as an assistant attorney general in various litigation matters from 1984 to 1994. She also practiced at the firm Martin & Snow in Macon after graduating from law school. Martin earned her bachelor’s degree from Stetson University in 1976 before coming to Athens to pursue her law degree at UGA.

The graduation is scheduled for May 18. The law school announced 230 students will receive their juris doctor, while six master of laws candidates will be recognized for completing one year of graduate legal study. The processional will begin at 10 a.m. on the quadrangle in front of the law school on UGA’s North Campus. In the event of rain, the ceremony will be moved to Stegeman Coliseum.

Supreme Court of GA elects new chief justice The Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously elected Presiding Justice Hugh P. Thompson of Milledgeville to become chief justice, the court announced today.

He will assume the position Aug. 15, 2013, succeeding Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein.

Thompson was chief judge of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit when Gov. Zell Miller appointed him in 1994 to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Prior to that, he served as president of the statewide Council of Superior Court Judges. He and his wife, Jane, have two grown sons.

The Court has also unanimously elected Justice P. Harris Hines to become the new Presiding Justice.

Read more »

Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds on Monday announced two unrelated but similar indictments of middle-aged working women accused of stealing from their employers.

Both women are accused of taking close to the same amount of money – about $170,000 – but one faces significantly more jail time because she is also accused of using her company computer to cover up the crime.

Patty Holmes, 48, of Mableton, is charged with theft by taking and computer forgery, Reynolds announced.

The indictment alleges that while she was a payroll manager for HyperBarxs, she added  $172,733 to her paychecks, which were direct deposited into her personal bank account.

The indictment further alleges that she used her work computer to alter the company’s books to hide the theft.

Read more »

Saying crime survivors are “some of the strongest people” he’s met, Cobb Circuit District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced plans to host a vigil and an open house for those “intimately affected by crime.” The events are scheduled for Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 21-27, according to an announcement from the DA’s office.

The DA’s office will co-host a vigil with the YWCA of Northwest Georgia at noon April 26 in the Cobb County Commission meeting room, 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta. While the vigil will pay tribute to victims of all crime, the program will emphasize the impact of sexual assault, the announcement said, noting April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  The open house will follow from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the district attorney’s office on the third floor of the new Cobb County Superior Courthouse at 70 Haynes St.

“Those who have been hurt by the criminal actions of others are harmed in many ways, yet they are often some of the strongest people I’ve met. Our vigil aims to recognize their suffering and remember those who didn’t survive,” Reynolds said in the announcement. “We are also pleased to open our office for people in the community we serve. This office belongs to them, after all.”

Kimberly B. McCoy, director of the victim witness unit in the Cobb district attorney’s office, said in the announcement, “Victims of crime suffer emotional, financial, and physical trauma as a result of the crimes inflicted upon them. The least we can do as a society is stand up for victims’ rights, ensuring that victims are kept informed of, allowed to participate in, and advised of options surrounding the criminal justice process.”

“Community awareness about the impact of crime not only informs the public of the plight of crime victims, it also honors the surviving spirit of victims and educates everyone about what services are available to crime victims,” McCoy said in the announcement. “Access to the office through avenues such as our open house allows both victims and the community a way to interact with office staff to gain a better understanding of our roles and tasks in seeking justice.”

Other announced events, in Cobb and around Georgia, to mark the annual Crime Victims’ Rights Week include:

• A free, daylong seminar      on detecting and preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation, April 19      at Chattahoochee Technical College North Metro Campus, Acworth. For more      information, visit http://www.chattahocheetech.edu/service-learning/
• A Safety Rules Rule!      family festival Saturday, April 20 at the Cobb County Safety Village. The      festival is hosted by SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center and will feature      Radio Disney AM590, interactive games, prizes and more. The free festival      will be from 10 a.m. to noon. The Safety Village is at 1220 Al Bishop Dr.,      Marietta, 30008.
• The Crime Victims      Advocacy Council will host a memorial service for those who have lost a      loved one to homicide, on Sunday, April 21 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at      the First Baptist Church of Decatur. The church is at 308 Clairemont Ave.,      Decatur.

A Cobb County Grand Jury has indicted a former McEachern High School teacher and coach for the sexual assault of a student under a new Georgia law that makes any sexual relationship between student and teacher a crime, regardless of consent.

Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced the indictment today.

The indictment alleges that Terrance Tarpley, 34, of Marietta, had sexual intercourse with a female student who was enrolled at McEachern on Jan. 15, 2012.

Under O.C.G.A §16-6-5.1(b)(1):  A person who has supervisory or disciplinary authority over another individual commits sexual assault when that person is a teacher, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator of any school and engages in sexual contact with such other individual who the actor knew or should have known is enrolled at the same school; provided, however, that such contact shall not be prohibited when the actor is married to such other individual.

The statute disallows consent of the victim as a defense.

The Georgia Legislature changed the “persons in custody” law against sexual contact to include teachers and students after a Cobb County judge threw out a case against a teacher when the student testified that the relationship was consensual.

If convicted, Mr. Tarpley could be sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and fined $100,000, Reynolds said.

Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring is prosecuting this case, which is assigned to Cobb Superior Court Judge Reuben Green.

An arraignment date has not been set, and Mr. Tarpley is currently free on bond. He is represented by Atlanta attorney Ashutosh Joshi.

Joshi could not be reached immediately. His assistant said he was in court.   Katheryn Hayes Tucker

University of Georgia School of Law 2011 graduate Andrew A. Pinson has been selected to serve as a judicial clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for the October 2013 term, the law school announced today.

The law school reports that Pinson’s appointment makes him the sixth Georgia Law graduate in nine years to serve the U.S. high court.

“A Supreme Court clerkship is one of the most distinguished appointments a law school graduate can obtain,” Georgia Law Dean Rebecca Hanner White said in the news release. “I am extremely proud of Andrew, and I know he will make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Pinson graduated first in his class and was the executive articles editor for the Georgia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

He then served as a clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Currently, Pinson is an attorney with Jones Day in Washington, D.C., and works in the firm’s issues and appeals practice, where he represents clients in various stages of civil litigation.

“My clerkship with Judge Sentelle proved to be a tremendous opportunity to develop as a lawyer and to gain a new perspective on how judges interpret the law,” Pinson said. “I applied for a Supreme Court clerkship for similar reasons.”

A Macon businessman avoided jail on a fiduciary theft conviction last year with the support of real estate investment partners from whom he was convicted of stealing half a million dollars – including two former Atlanta Braves and an ex-Atlanta Falcon – and to whom he pledged to make restitution. But he’s in jail now anyway because he failed to report to probation officers, the Macon Telegraph reports today.

The Telegraph reports that William David “Billy” Ramsbottom Jr. was denied release from the Bibb County jail “where he’s being held on an allegation he absconded from probation.” Ramsbottom, 47, was jailed Feb. 13 after he was arrested for an alleged probation violation. The story says he first failed to report to probation in March 2012, two months after he was sentenced in a case involving the embezzlement of $476,000 from partners in a St. Simons Island shopping center. The petition to revoke his probation alleges he has failed to report since May 14, 2012.

The Telegraph noted Ramsbottom appeared in a Bibb County Superior Court hearing Thursday wearing a blue and white jail detention center uniform. The story carried a 2012 file photo of three well-dressed men in suits and ties, one in a black fedora, identified as Ramsbottom and his lawyers leaving the courthouse last year. The lawyers are Craig Gillen and Jerry Lumbley.

The Telegraph quoted Myra Tisdale, a Bibb County assistant district attorney, saying, “Given an inch, he takes a mile.”

For sports fans, the Telegraph reports the letter that helped Ramsbottom stay out of jail the first time – from partners who said he’d agreed to help them recoup their losses in a St. Simons shopping center development – included signatures from: former Atlanta Braves John Rocker and Ryan Klesko, and former Atlanta Falcon Chris Mohr.

A 26-year-old man struck a plea deal with the Athens-Clarke County district attorney for a 20-year sentence, 10 to serve, for the armed robbery of a convenience store that yielded $232. The man brandished a knife in the robbery and was arrested three days later.

Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard accepted the agreement, which also included a lifetime ban from Athens, according to an account in the Athens Banner-Herald. The newspaper reported that the plea bargain was struck after Assistant District Attorney Reed Newland filed notice of intent to use the man’s prior convictions for drugs and entering an auto as aggravating factors at sentencing.