Karma prevails and Recusal Motion ensues

Fulton Judge circumvents jury in an 'attempt' to distribute over $40K in Registry funds

A Fulton County judge entered an order in a case last Wednesday, December 21, carelessly releasing all money held in the Registry of the Court to a plaintiff despite that ownership of over $40,000 of those funds is still left to be determined by the jury.

Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge doubled down on her lawless ruling by ordering that the defendant-tenant be evicted immediately and further required that the defendant pay an additional $30,000 into the Registry by December 31, 2022.

The plaintiff, Paramount Properties, receiving what appeared to be an early Christmas present by the court is represented by Hall Booth Smith, an Atlanta law firm with at least one attorney on Judge Leftridge's donor list. That donor, R. David Ware who is the former County Attorney for Fulton, was previously married to Sharon W. Ware, a former employer of Judge Leftridge according to her resume posted on fulton.org. Though not the topic of this article, Mr. Ware has had his fair share of legal troubles.

“This was the second time Judge Leftridge has gone out of her way to interfere with my client’s due process rights” said Marietta Attorney Matt McMaster. “In September, I identified what appeared to be a bad situation for my client with this particular judge, so I asserted my client's Constitutional right to a trial by jury upon demand in order to take the role of fact finding out of the judge’s hands.” Jury trials are a useful remedy and tool in a civil action for when you don’t believe that your assigned judge will be impartial. “There were a few clues that led me to believe we weren’t going to get a fair hearing,” said McMaster.

Just four days before the date set for the jury trial, the judge’s staff assistant informed the parties that there would not be a court reporter available to transcribe the proceedings, that the parties would have to provide their own court reporter, and that the court would not delay the trial even if the parties were unable to secure their own court reporter in time. “The judge was basically putting herself in a position of power with the ability to manipulate the outcome of the case and we would have no transcript for an appeal,” McMaster explained. “Both the right to appeal and right to a fair trial by an impartial jury are safeguards against judicial impropriety.” The defendant filed for Bankruptcy on October 24, the day before the scheduled jury trial, putting the case on a temporary stay.

The plaintiff-landlord (client of Hall Booth Smith) requested from the court a release of all funds held in the Registry at around 5:20 PM on December 20, 2022; and the judge entered the order releasing the funds without a hearing at 11:03 AM the very next morning (on December 21) with over $40,000 of those funds still in dispute for a jury to decide ownership of. “I’ve seen my fair share of malfeasance from the bench in multiple [Georgia] counties so, while this situation isn’t overly surprising, it’s still disheartening and puts me in a bad position having to ask the judge to recuse herself,” McMaster continued. “It would essentially amount to malpractice on my part if I don’t motion to recuse the judge at this point.”

The defendant, Derrick Jackson (represented by McMaster) had already deposited over $190,000 into the Court’s Registry before November of this year, making it mathematically impossible for the plaintiff to be entitled to all money already in the Registry and for Jackson to owe an additional $30,000 in rent through December 31.

As for the likelihood that this was a mere calculation error by the judge, “We all know that Judge Leftridge is very detail oriented and essentially a ‘math-whiz’ when she wants to be,” McMaster said--admittedly in reference to Leftridge’s use of arithmetic justifying her reinstatement of Patty Durand as a candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission, reversing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s decision to disqualify Durand from the recent election.

Karma did come to the rescue, at least for the moment, as the party that benefited from the judge’s blitz-order was unable to withdraw the funds from the Registry as of December 22 due to a clerical error in the judge’s order, and the judge’s staff had already gone on vacation not intending to return until January 3, 2023. Judge Leftridge’s chambers were thus unavailable for comment.

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The problems of judicial impropriety being done for clients of campaign donors are familiar to the author. The pattern of conduct by lawyers and judges that deprives the people of their rights is like that documented in many other cases where families are losing their homes and their children, everything that matters most to them. The law and courts in Georgia, as seen in over ten years of data collected to illustrate this problem, offer little to no protection for those in need of it, our citizens kept in the dark until it’s too late.

If you are aware of similar problems in Georgia legal matters, send the details and documents here: https://navigatingjustice.org/reporting/

Last Updated: 12/28/2022

See also

• Part 1: Karma prevails and Recusal Motion ensues
• Part 2: Fulton Sheriff wrongfully evicts Mother and children
• Part 3: Georgia Ethics Code Does Not Apply To Fulton Judges
• Part 4: Cobb County judge sets the record straight in Fulton, or is it all a facade?
• Part 5: Fulton Judiciary Weaponizes Project ORCA