Difference between revisions of "Cobb County - Judicial Misconduct"
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Cobb County - Judicial Misconduct (view source)
Revision as of 22:55, 21 September 2021
, 22:55, 21 September 2021→A (Not So) Voluntary Recusal in Waffle House Sex Tape Case
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===A (Not So) Voluntary Recusal in Waffle House Sex Tape Case=== | ===A (Not So) Voluntary Recusal in Waffle House Sex Tape Case=== | ||
In an article written by [https://www.ajc.com/staff/bill-rankin/ Bill Rankin] for [https://www.ajc.com The Atlanta Journal-Constitution], Judge Robert Leonard recused himself from the case after making biased rulings in favor of his wife's attorney, Hylton Depree. | In an article written by [https://www.ajc.com/staff/bill-rankin/ Bill Rankin] for [https://www.ajc.com The Atlanta Journal-Constitution], Judge Robert Leonard recused himself from the case after making biased rulings in favor of his wife's attorney, Hylton Depree. | ||
<blockquote>One alleged conflict was that an ethics complaint had been filed against Leonard before the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission. JQC Commissioner Richard Hyde works as an investigator for Rogers’ legal team in the sex tape case, the motion said, creating a question about whether Leonard would favor Rogers’ side in the litigation to curry favor with Hyde. | |||
The motion said Leonard had presided over a case with attorney Katie Kiihnl, whom Leonard would later marry. Also, Leonard appointed Diane Woods, one of his divorce lawyers, as a guardian in a case before him, a motion said. | |||
On Thursday, Leonard signed an order in which he declined to recuse himself from the Rogers case. On Friday, he changed his mind, based on yet another recusal motion that said a lawyer involved in the litigation once represented Kiihnl. This created enough of an appearance of conflict to require him to step down, Leonard said. | |||
The judge said removing himself from the case enabled him to respond to the “many wild and salacious allegations that the court believes were designed to strategically place the court in the middle of a classic Morton’s Fork.” (A Morton’s Fork, named after 15th century Archbishop of Canterbury John Morton, forces one to choose between two paths that both lead to an undesirable destination.) | |||
Previously, Leonard said, he had chosen to “stand tall, tolerate the false allegations against the court, its wife and other members of the legal community, and continue to preside over the case.” Recusal motions have “become a popular method for disgruntled litigants, like Cohen, to attack their assigned judge in an effort to judge-shop,” he said. | |||
In his 10-page order, Leonard addressed each of Cohen’s numerous allegations, calling them either a “falsehood” or a “misleading statement.” | |||
First, Leonard wrote, he is not under investigation by the state’s judicial disciplinary agency. | |||
Judicial Qualifications Commission director Ben Easterlin confirmed that “there is no pending complaint against Judge Leonard and no investigation pending against Judge Leonard.” | |||
As for his wife appearing in cases before him, Leonard accused Cohen of “cherry-picking” from the court record to make it appear unethical. “Despite Cohen’s attempts to mislead the court and the public, neither this court’s wife, nor any member of her firm, ever made any appearance in front of this court after its relationship began with her,” Leonard wrote. | |||
As for Woods, his former divorce lawyer, Leonard said when he appointed her as a guardian in a case he disclosed his relationship with her in open court, and both parties agreed to Woods’ involvement. “There was no wrongdoing here despite what Cohen claims,” Leonard wrote. | |||
Rogers’ lawyer, Robert Ingram, said Leonard should not have been subjected to such attacks. | |||
“Judge Leonard has bent over backwards to be fair to everybody in this case,” Ingram said. “This is the kind of behavior lawyers shouldn’t be engaged in.” | |||
As for Leonard’s final order, Ingram said, “You could tell he had some pent-up frustration.”</blockquote> | |||
===Leading Cobb's Notorious "Pay-to-Play" Way=== | ===Leading Cobb's Notorious "Pay-to-Play" Way=== | ||
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