Difference between revisions of "Cobb County - Judicial Misconduct"

In June of 2021, Judge Robert E. Flournoy III was asked by way of motion to recuse himself from presiding over a custody case in which Tom Browning, founding partner of Browning & Smith who was Judge Flournoy's attorney in his 2010 custody case,<ref>[https://thewikilaw.org/wiki/images/c/cf/Flournoy_Browning_Conflict.pdf Cobb County Superior Court, Case No. 10-1-05727]</ref> longtime friend and campaign treasurer of Flournoy's, was representing an opposing party. The case was temporarily assigned to the Chief Superior Court Judge, Robert D. Leonard II (a.k.a., Rob Leonard) to hear the recusal motion. That motion against Judge Flournoy was filed and plead by Cobb County attorney Matt McMaster on behalf of the father fighting for custody in that matter. At the hearing before Judge Leonard, attorneys Tom Browning and the Guardian Ad Litem in case Leslee Hungerford of O'Dell & O'Neal ("GAL") defended Judge Flournoy in front of Judge Leonard despite McMaster's objection to those individuals functionally serving as Flournoy's defense attorneys. Despite the known relationship between Tom Browning and Judge Flournoy, Judge Leonard denied McMaster's request for recusal and the case was assigned back to Judge Flournoy. A motion for reconsideration was subsequently filed against Judge Leonard's order and that matter remained pending until Flournoy voluntarily finally recused himself citing the [https://mcmasterforcobb.com/why-matt McMaster For Cobb campaign website for Matt McMaster as candidate for Cobb County Superior Court Judge] on April 25, 2022.  

In December of 2021, attorney McMaster withdrew from the above cases and entered the 2022 Cobb County Superior Court Judge election race to challenge Judge Leonard.<ref>[https://mcmasterforcobb.com/why-matt Why I'm Running: The Lion's Den, mcmasterforcobb.com]</ref> Upon learning of McMaster's candidacy, Judge Flournoy and his wife Julie Flournoy donated $4,400 to Judge Leonard's re-election campaign in January 2022. In February 2022, Judge Leonard named Justin O'Dell has his co-chair for his election campaign and Julie Flournoy hired Leslee Hungerford, the Guardian Ad Litem in the above cases, of O'Dell & O'Neal as her probate attorney.

 

A hearing on all pending motions in Rivera v. Scharle, Case No. 21-1-01795, was scheduled for April 18, 2022. But at that hearing during pre-trial discussion in open court, the GAL argued that the hearing was only for an alleged "contempt" motion against the Father, Jonathan Rivera. Judge Flournoy subsequently disclosed that his wife, Julie Flournoy, hired the GAL as her probate attorney and Flournoy then asked the Father if he would like Judge Flournoy recused from the case. The Father declined to have Flournoy recused for that hearing. The GAL was excused from the courtroom before the hearing began because she was not material to that particular issue. During the hearing, Judge Flournoy declined to rule on the alleged contempt motion in light of the Father's bankruptcy payment plan and advised the Mother's attorney, David Canale, to lift the bankruptcy stay. Mr. Canale repeated multiple times that he was not a bankruptcy attorney and Judge Flournoy continued to provide him guidance on the matter. The parties were excused and the case was continued. The very next day, on April 19, 2022, the Father emailed Judge Flournoy's staff attorney requesting that Judge Flournoy recuse himself from all further proceedings in light of his conflict of interest with the GAL.

 

On September 9, 2021, a Petition for Writ of Mandamus was filed against the Honorable Adele Grubbs along with a request for recusal against the entire Cobb County judicial circuit. That request was granted by the Chief Superior Court Judge, Robert D. Leonard II (a.k.a., Rob Leonard) on September 24, 2021 and was ordered to be transferred to the 7th Judicial Court Administrator for further appointment to a Superior Court Judge outside the Cobb Circuit. Ironically, the 7th Judicial Court Administrator as of September 2021 was the Honorable Robert E. Flournoy III also of Cobb County Superior Court. In short, Judge Leonard handed the case to another Cobb County Superior Court judge to pick a judge outside of Cobb County to handle the matter. The petitioner in that case filed an immediate motion to recuse Judge Flournoy from the matter, which was subsequently granted by another administrative Judge, William T. Boyett, on September 27, 2021. The case was a day later assigned to the Honorable Joe C. Bishop.