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.”

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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.

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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

A Cobb County grand jury has indicted Alvin Blake Sutherland, a former Cobb County Sheriff’s sergeant, on charges of rape, sexual assault against persons in custody, violation of oath by public officer, and other charges.

District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced he’s aiming for life in prison without parole. He’s put Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin in charge of prosecuting the case, which is assigned to Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley. Sutherland, 51, of Douglasville, was arrested Jan. 18, 2013 after a female inmate reported a sexual assault.

Sheriff Neil Warren was quoted at the time in the Marietta Daily Journal by reporter Jon Gillooly saying, “I’m really heartbroken over it, to be honest with you.”

Sutherland was assigned to the detention center supervising 20 to 30 deputies and 250 inmates before he was fired. Sutherland is being held without bond in the Douglas County Jail, according to Reynolds’ announcement.

The indictment alleges that Sutherland had sexual encounters with four female inmates at the Cobb County Jail and elsewhere.

The acts are believed to have occurred between June 2009 and Jan. 11, 2013. Sutherland is charged with a total of 21 counts: seven counts of aggravated sodomy; four counts of sexual assault against person in custody; four counts of violation of oath by public officer; three counts of making false statements; two counts of aggravated sexual battery; and one count of rape.

If Sutherland is convicted of all charges, he could face a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sutherland is represented by attorney C. Christopher Flinn of Decatur. Flinn said by email: “At this point, our only statement is that Mr. Sutherland denies the allegations by the State and will enter a ‘not guilty’ plea to the charges against him.”

The Cobb County District Attorney late today dismissed all criminal charges against a former assistant U.S. attorney, an Atlanta attorney and a Marietta man who had been accused of stealing funds from international gun manufacturer Glock Inc.

District Attorney Vic Reynolds told the Daily Report that he dismissed the three-year-old indictment against former AUSA James Harper, Atlanta attorney Jeff Pombert and Marietta resident Jerry Chapman after having his white collar crime prosecutor review the high-profile case.

The charges against Harper, Pombert and Chapman involve an estimated $3 million that Cobb prosecutors said Harper and his co-defendants had billed Glock founder Gaston Glock for services not rendered. They were also accused of overbilling for other services and using their bills for legal services to cover illegal transfers of funds and theft of funds.

Cobb prosecutors claimed Harper’s legal fees formed the basis of charges that included racketeering, wire fraud, mail fraud, extortion, money laundering, theft and obstruction of justice. Read more »

It was a long story to be told before Cobb County Superior Court Adele Grubbs during a plea hearing this week. There were three defendants with too many aliases to count. The plea agreement was for forgery, but the tale began with a pile of counterfeit cash.

The police found the money when they impounded a car belonging to one of the defendants picked up on a probation violation related to another charge. Then they got a call from a local Wal-Mart, where managers were suspicious that they’d just taken in counterfeit money. The store video cameras revealed the three defendants all buying items with money that did, indeed, prove to be counterfeit. The bills had the same serial numbers as the cash found in the car.

The three defendants – a man and his wife and sister – were sentenced to eight years, with two to serve in prison. The judge also told them they would have to pay restitution to Wal-Mart for the counterfeit cash – just under $300 for all three – plus fines and fees to the court.

The only real surprise in the hearing was when the prosecutor, Bruce Hornbuckle, told the court what one of the defendants said when police confronted her: “She said she didn’t know anything about any money being counterfeit, but that she had earned the money by working as a prostitute.”

Governor Nathan Deal announced today the appointment of Henry Thompson to the Cobb County State Court to replace Robert Leonard II, who left to fill a vacancy on Cobb County Superior Court.

Thompson, 44, is a senior assistant district attorney in the Cobb Judicial Circuit. He earned his law degree from the University of Georgia Law School in 1994. He started his legal career as a prosecutor in the Athens District Attorney’s office. He joined the Cobb DA’s office in 2000.

Thompson is a native of Carroll County. He lives in west Cobb with his wife and four children.

Governor Nathan Deal appointed three new judges today in Cobb, Gwinnett and McIntosh counties.

Cobb State Court Judge Robert Leonard II, who was first appointed to the bench in December 2010, will replace retired Cobb Superior Court Judge George Kreeger. Leonard earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky.

The other candidates suggested by Deal’s Judicial Nominating Committee for the Cobb post were State Court Judge Maria Golick, Juvenile Court Judge Juanita Stedman and Troutman Sanders partner Mark VanderBroek.

Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge George Hutchinson III will fill the Gwinnett Superior Court vacancy created by Judge William “Billy” Ray II’s appointment to the state Court of Appeals this summer. Hutchinson earned his law degree from Emory University.

The JNC’s other short listed candidates for the Gwinnett post were DeKalb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin, State Court Judge Randy Rich and Magistrate Robert Walker Jr.

Atlantic Circuit Juvenile Court Judge C. Jean Bolin will replace retiring Judge Dale Jenkins in McIntosh County State Court. Bolin was appointed to the juvenile court in 2006 and is also a partner at Bolin & West-Webster. She earned her law degree from Florida Coastal School of Law.

The other candidate recommended by the JNC for the McIntosh post was solo practitioner Adam Poppell III.

The defendant who represented himself in a Marietta murder trial was sentenced Monday morning to life plus 47 and a half years in prison.

The sentence might have been worse under current law, but the judge had to use the guidelines in place in

1995, the time of the murder of Karmen Smith and the stabbing of her son, Nicholas, then five years old.

Nick Smith, now 22 and a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, was the only witness to speak in the sentencing hearing, which lasted about an hour. Talking through tears, he described the “scared, sad little boy” he was after the stabbing, “branded” by his wounds. “He’s finally caught and I’m finally free. I love you, Mom,” he said.

It was Nick Smith that Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley talked about first when she sentenced Waseem Daker. Watching his testimony during the three-week trial, Staley said she felt she witnessed the boy grow into a man and “look you in the eye,” she told Daker. She said Smith showed “remarkable enduring strength in that moment.”

Staley gave Daker the maximum sentence recommended by Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans for the 11-count conviction. Several of the charges were merged together. The sentence includes: life for the first murder count, 20 years for aggravated assault, 20 years for burglary, five years for false imprisonment and 2 and a half years for criminal intent to commit aggravated stalking.

“I hope you never leave prison – ever – because that would be just,” Staley told Daker. The judge agreed with Evans’ assertion that the case has no mitigating facts and that Daker is dangerous. She added, “I think you’re dangerous in prison. I hope they keep a close watch on you.”

Daker maintained his innocence. “I did not kill Karmen Smith. I did not stab Nick Smith. I hope one day the truth will come out because this is not it.”

Daker came to court every day of the trial looking like a lawyer, wearing a suit and tie. For the sentencing, he was dressed in a standard red Cobb County Jail jumpsuit.

Daker refused to sign the five sentencing orders, which the judge noted with each order, adding, “in his cowardly way” each time. The orders were signed by the judge, the prosecutor and Daker’s court appointed defense attorney, Jason Treadaway, who was fired by Daker then ordered by the judge to remain as backup counsel.

The judge also said she was authorizing Cobb County Circuit Public Defender Randy Harris to recover from Daker the costs of his court appointed counsel, “whom you manipulated and abused.” She instructed Treadaway to file Daker’s motion for new trial, and dismissed Daker by telling the sheriff’s deputies surrounding him, “Take him out.”

The defendant who represented himself in a Marietta murder trial was convicted Friday afternoon.

A jury of six men and six women found Waseem Daker guilty of the 1995 strangling death of Delta flight attendant Karmen Smith and the attack on her then 5-year-old son that left him with 18 stab wounds and nearly cost him his life.

The verdict concluded a three-week trial before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley. On the day of opening statements, Daker fired his court-appointed lawyers from the father-and-son firm Treadaway & Treadaway and acted as his own counsel.

His defense strategy was to question the validity and proper handling of evidence and bring up other possible suspects who might have done the victim harm. It was a defense built on the potential of reasonable doubt.

“You’re not supposed to give the state the benefit of the doubt. You’re supposed to give it to me, the defendant,” Daker told the jury in his closing argument Thursday. “I don’t have to prove I’m innocent.”

Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans told the jury, “The evidence is overwhelming.” He reviewed the DNA evidence matching Daker to a hair found on the victim’s body—underneath her shirt and five layers of bedding. “DNA is proof positive,” Evans said, noting that Daker told police he had never been in the house where Smith lived in a basement apartment.

Her housemate was Lottie Spencer Blatz, the woman Daker was convicted of stalking in 1996. Daker served 10 years for the stalking charges, which included burglary, threats to kill Blatz and her then 10-year-old daughter and calling her phone hundreds of times. Daker was arrested for the murder in January 2010 after new DNA technology provided a perfect match, Evans said.

Evans also displayed images of women bound and strangled—in the same manner as Smith’s body was—found in the defendant’s car and laptop computer after his arrest in 2010.