A former police chief of Talbotton in Talbot County has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of making a false statement to a federal agent, federal prosecutors in Georgia’s Middle District in Macon announced today.

Former Talbotton Police Chief Michael Howard, 43, admitted during his plea hearing that last year he lied to a federal agent when he denied knowing that a known drug dealer had transported narcotics through Talbot County, according to Michael J. Moore, U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s Middle District.

According to federal prosecutors, an informant had told Howard that he had $15,000 and that he would be traveling through Talbot County in connection with a planned drug deal. The informant also asked Howard if he would be interested in assisting him by providing the informant with protection until the deal was consummated, prosecutors said.  Howard apparently expressed an interest in the FBI informant’s offer but ultimately turned it down, telling the informant that he was off duty and not wearing his uniform and so could not be of any assistance in running interference for him, federal prosecutors said.

Howard faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 25.

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The state judicial disciplinary agency has  issued a private reprimand to a Monroe County magistrate judge in connection with his arrest last June and his subsequent guilty plea to driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission reprimanded Jeffery M. Davis, chief judge of the Monroe County Magistrate Court and a Forsyth Municipal Court judge, after he notified the JQC of his June 3 arrest by the Bibb County sheriff, according to a JQC report filed with the Supreme Court of Georgia today.

On June 10, Davis entered a guilty plea  in Bibb County State Court and was sentenced to 12 months probation, an $800 fine and 24 hours in jail, according to the JQC report.  Davis was also ordered to attend a DUI/risk reduction course and perform 40 hours of community service, the JQC report said.

The day after his arrest, Davis resigned his post as Forsyth’s municipal court judge, explaining that he could not in good conscience continue to preside over DUI cases, according to the JQC report. On the day he entered his guilty plea, Davis also called a news conference where he publicly accepted responsibility for his actions, according to the report.

Davis – who is not related to JQC Director Jeffrey R. Davis – later met with the JQC to discuss the arrest and what action the disciplinary agency might take. While the JQC case was pending, the magistrate judge, according to the report, “complied with every request” made by the commission.

The JQC determined to privately reprimand Davis, making only the fact of the reprimand, but not its specific contents, public. It stated that the disposition “is fair and just for all concerned.”  In doing so, the JQC “attempted to balance its responsibility to the public to insure an honorable and independent judiciary with its responsibility to deal fairly with a judge who complied with all requests of the Commission,” according to its report.

The state Judicial Qualifications Commission has filed ethics charges against a Superior Court judge in Brunswick, accusing her of “willful misconduct in office” that includes jailing defendants indefinitely and lying to the JQC about the practice.

In a 31-page notice (view that here) that includes 12 counts of ethics violations, the JQC also accused Amanda F. Williams, chief judge of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, of improperly allowing members of her family to litigate cases in front of her, allowing her social and political relationships influence her judicial conduct, and improperly endorsing a local candidate for district attorney.

The charges also accuse Williams of issuing ex-parte orders on substantive legal matters without the knowledge or input of all parties involved in the disputes, holding hearings in chambers without a court reporter present, improperly jailing people who appeared before her, demonstrating an open bias against defendants, and using “rude, abusive and insulting language” in court.

Leah Ward Sears, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and former Georgia attorney general Michael J. Bowers will prosecute Williams before the JQC on the ethics charges. Sears, who stepped down from the high court in 2009, is an attorney at the Atlanta offices of Chicago firm Schiff Hardin. Bowers, who has handled other prosecutions for the JQC,  is a partner at the Atlanta offices of Balch & Bingham. The JQC filed charges against Williams late Wednesday at the Supreme Court.

Williams, became the Brunswick Circuit’s first female Superior Court judge when she was elected to the post in 1990.  She earned her law degree at John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta in 1977,  and was elected to her sixth term in 2010.

Williams was the subject last spring of a lengthy and controversial report by “This American Life”, a weekly public radio show hosted by Chicago reporter Ira Glass. The March 25 broadcast, “Very Tough Love” — during which Glass described Williams as “a judge many people truly fear” –  led to calls across the nation for Williams’ impeachment. According to the judge, the broadcast also generated death threats against her.

The Daily Report will update this story later today.

The chief judge of the Chattahoochee Circuit has ordered to jail a 70-year-old child molester who has been free on bail for eight years, despite having been sentenced to a 15-year jail term in 2003, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.  But at a noon hearing on Tuesday, Chattahoochee Circuit Superior Court Judge John D. Allen set a hearing in two weeks to give defendant Melvin Moseley Sr.’s defense lawyer, J. Mark Shelnutt, time to make a case that Moseley should be released rather than serve the 15-year prison term to which Superior Court Judge Douglas C. Pullen sentenced him in eight years ago.

According to the Ledger-Enquirer, the case has attracted the attention both of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission and a special prosecutor appointed by the Georgia Attorney General at the request of the circuit’s district attorney, Julia F. Slater. Read more »

Reports from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer suggest that what appears to be investigation by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission of at least some of the Chattahoochee Circuit’s Superior Court judges is heating up at the same time that one of the circuit’s judges has announced he will retire before the end of his term.

Friday’s announcement by Chattahoochee Circuit Superior Court Judge Douglas C. Pullen that he had drafted, but not yet delivered, his retirement notice to Gov. Nathan Deal came as the Columbus paper was investigating the case of a convicted child molester whom Pullen had sentenced to a 15-year prison term in 2003 but who has remained free on $25,000 bail ever since. Read more »

The Georgia General Assembly’s House and Senate Conference Committee made a final recommendation this morning to increase the budget of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the state’s judicial disciplinary agency, by $157,491 in FY 2012 – a 62 percent increase over its current $251,749 annual budget.  Provided that the conference committee’s recommendation receives final passage this week and is signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, the JQC’s 2012 budget next year will rise to $409,240.

The anticipated budget increase will be used in the investigation and potential prosecution of judges by the commission, Director Jeffrey R. Davis said.  Complaints about judges are increasing, Davis said. Read more »

The Judicial Qualifications Commission got a financial shot in the arm last week when Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill authorizing an additional $91,734 for the judicial disciplinary agency for this fiscal year.

“We are off life support,” JQC director Jeffrey R. Davis told the Daily Report. “We got the needed funding that we  requested of the legislature. We are very grateful to the governor for signing the bill.” Read more »

A bill before the state House of Representatives would increase qualifying fees for judicial candidates in order to generate money to fund the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Currently, judicial candidates pay a qualifying fee equal to 3 percent of the salary of the position they seek. House Bill 262 would raise the fee to 4 percent, with the additional 1 percent going to fund the JQC.

Based on the 2010 figures from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, the current and proposed qualification fees for state-paid judges are as follows:

• Supreme Court: $167,209.68 x 3 percent = $5,016.29; x 4 percent = $6,688.39
• Court of Appeals: $166,186.32 x 3 percent = $4,985.59; x 4 percent = $6,647.45
• Superior Court: $120,252 x 3 percent = $3,607.56; x 4 percent = $4,810.08

The salaries for county-paid judges vary, depending on a jurisdiction’s population. Thus, their qualification fees are harder to calculate.

For all courts, the JQC estimates the bill would generate  $155,126.75 annually.

The State Judicial Qualifications Commission elected a new chairman and vice-chairman at its monthly meeting.

The commissioners elected member Muscogee County Superior Court Chief Judge John D. Allen as chairman and Marietta attorney Robert D. Ingram as vice-chair.  Allen serves as one of the state judiciary’s two appointments to the JQC and most recently held the commission’s vice-chairman position. Read more »

Gov. Deal’s budget, released Wednesday, adds a much needed $106,734  to the remainder of the state Judicial Qualification Commissions’ FY 2011 budget, which began July 1, 2010. The money would increase the JQC’s 2011 budget by nearly 50 percent

The governor’s budget request is based on a recommendation the state Judicial Council of Georgia made last fall. The Georgia Assembly must still approve the supplemental appropriation requests. Read more »