Cobb County - Judicial Misconduct

Judicial misconduct occurs when a judge acts in ways that are considered unethical or otherwise in violation of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct.

The Cobb County judicial system in the State of Georgia has a well documented history of judicial misconduct.

Frank R. Cox - former Chief Magistrate Judge of Cobb County

Former Cobb County Chief Magistrate Court Judge Frank R. Cox

Former Cobb Chief Magistrate Frank R. Cox took office in 2001. He supervised a staff of 50 people, including 14 judges. He received his B.S. Degree from Georgia State University and his Juris Doctor from Woodrow Wilson College of Law. Prior to his judgeship, Cox served as an assistant district attorney in Cobb for 15 years.

JQC Complaint Leading to Resignation

In an article written by Dan Klepal for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "two attorneys filed separate complaints against Frank Cox with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates accusations of judicial misconduct and makes disciplinary recommendations to the Georgia Supreme Court."

"Both complaints center around judicial temperament, and how people were treated in Cox’s courtroom."

Wrongful Termination of Wanda Spann

"Wanda Spann served as Cobb County Pretrial Court Services Director from 1983 – 2003. She was appointed to this position by the Cobb County Superior Court Judges Council at age 23, becoming Cobb County’s first African American department head and judicial appointee."

Mrs. Spann had a stellar career in Cobb’s court system for 23 years but was unlawfully terminated in May of 2003 by Chief Magistrate Judge Frank Cox, a person who had absolutely no authority over her or Pretrial Court Services. Spann served at the pleasure of the Cobb County Superior Court Judges Council according to the Uniform Superior Court Rules of Georgia.

Cox orchestrated a witch hunt against Spann to remove her from her position. His plan consisted of deceitful and unethical practices such as accessing Spann’s computer from a remote site to obtain a letter she was writing to the Superior Court Judges seeking protection from his constant harassment. Cox was angry because Spann complained he was trying to force one of her employees to sign a letter he dictated in the employee's name, which contained lies to circumvent conditions of a murder defendant's bond. She also complained of his improprieties concerning the bonds of child molesters and other serious offenders.

On March 19, 2003 Cox was given a memo by Superior Court Judge Mary Staley which stated that the Georgia Supreme Court had approved for the Chief Magistrate to have supervisory authority over Spann and her department. This was not true. Cox used the letter to place Spann under house arrest/suspension.

On May 21, 2003 Mary Staley gave Cox another letter containing similar information which he used to terminate Spann the following day.

Robert D. Leonard II - Chief Superior Court Judge of Cobb County

Judge Leonard presently serves as the Chief Judge for the Cobb Judicial Circuit. He has served the citizens of Cobb County since his appointment to the bench in December of 2010. He has been re-elected three times without opposition.

A (Not So) Voluntary Recusal in Waffle House Sex Tape Case

In an article written by Bill Rankin for 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.

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.”

Leading Cobb's Notorious "Pay-to-Play" Way

Cobb County Superior Court is known as a "Pay-to-Play" judicial system, which by definition is technically a violation of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct. What exactly does Pay-to-Play mean in the judicial system context? It means that when a judge has discretion to appoint someone to a paid role (e.g., mediator, Guardian Ad Litem, etc.) in a case, the judge will select an individual that contributes, usually substantially, to the judge's election campaign.

• List of Cobb County Guardian Ad Litems
• List of Cobb County Mediators

In an article by Arvin Dilawar published in 2020 by the SCALAWAG online magazine, Judge Leonard is exposed for appointing a Guardian Ad Litem in 2017 to a child custody case that happened to also be the highest financial donor to his re-election campaign. When one of the parties requested that the Guardian be removed from the case, Judge Leonard required that the requesting party pay to the Guardian the full amount billed by the Guardian which totaled $12,350.00, despite the fact the Guardian failed to complete work worth that amount of pay.

Judge Leonard's execution of the Pay-to-Play method has not waivered as of August 2021. In Cobb County Superior Court, Case No. 21-1-03662, Judge Leonard appointed Tyler J. Browning of Browning & Smith LLC, as a Guardian Ad Litem over a custody matter. Based on public records as January 2021, Browning & Smith is the highest donating law firm to Judge Leonard's re-election campaign since 2014, which is presently known as Friends of Judge Leonard, donating a present total of not less than $3,600.00 to date.