Fulton Judiciary Weaponizes Project ORCA

Cobb Judges Abandon Constitution to Protect the Establishment

Fulton County's Project ORCA recently recruited two Cobb County Judges allegedly to assist in managing the Fulton County Superior Court backlog of cases. The timing of the recruitment and the resulting rulings leaves little to conjecture. Senior Judges are being used as mere cover fire for the improprieties of elected judges, but at what cost?

This article comes as an unintended 7th Part in a series of articles following an array of retaliatory actions of the Fulton County judiciary and law enforcement against a man and his attorney, Power vs. Truth.

Project ORCA

"On June 30, 2021, during a Fulton County Board of Commissioners meeting with the county’s mayors at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, County Manager Dick Anderson said Fulton’s court case backlog had gotten out of control."

Fulton Leaders 'Brainstormed'

Just over five months later, when Fulton’s courts finally reopened, county leaders embarked on a plan to address the backlog—which, after being inventoried, totaled 148,209 open and active cases. Fulton, the state’s largest and most populous county with Georgia’s largest court case backlog, chose a name just as big for the strategy: Project Orca.

According to an article written by Everett Catts of the Daily Report, available at law.com:

For Fulton, 'orca' has been synonymous with 'solution.' As of July 31, about a year and a half after launching Project Orca, the county had disposed of 108,661 cases, becoming a model for justice systems across the state and nation. In July, Fulton won one of the National Association of Counties’ Achievement Awards for its innovative methods of whittling down the backlog. In May it won an Association County Commissioners of Georgia County of Excellence Award for the same reason.

So, how exactly does this Project Orca devour cases at such a rapid pace? What exactly is the secret? Cobb County attorney, Matthew D. McMaster, shared his opinion: "The court's due diligence is our due process. And due diligence takes time. If time is being reduced, so is due diligence and, in turn, due process. It's as simple as that."

When asked whether he has evidence to show that due process rights were being sacrificed at the hand of Project Orca, McMaster responded: "Absolutely. The numbers don't lie."

Cobb Leaders Rest On Their Laurels

In 2022, a mandamus petition was filed in Cobb County Superior Court naming Judge Grubbs as the defending party against two plaintiffs, Troy and Tatyana Ellis. The plaintiffs sought legal consultation from attorney McMaster regarding the case. Though McMaster never entered the record as an attorney, Judge Grubbs was put on notice of McMaster's role in the matter when it was disclosed through discovery to Grubbs' attorney. Additionally, McMaster had been critical of Judge Robert E. Flournoy III in recent times for a number of reasons, one being Judge Flournoy's potential status as a disqualified senior judge based on a blemish with his application sent to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in October of 2022. That issue has not been publicly addressed by the Governor; and based on what we now know about Judge Grubbs' status as a senior judge, she too may also be unqualified for the same procedural snafu.

Senior judge status as provided in this Code section shall be acquired by a qualified former judge’s applying to the Governor for appointment as senior judge. The Governor shall appoint each qualified applicant as a senior judge. O.C.G.A. § 15-1-9.2(a.2).

To add fuel to this fire, it was also reported that both Judge Flournoy and Judge Grubbs were seen out to lunch at Thaicoon & Sushi Bar at Marietta Square on April 18, 2023—the very same day that Judge Grubbs entered her questionable order appointing Barry L. Zimmerman as special master in the Fulton case, which was also the same day that Judge Schuster made his comment regarding Judge Grubbs and McMaster.

Judge Adele Grubbs and attorney Matt McMaster had not faced each other in any kind of trial or motion hearing in Judge Grubbs' history on the bench, despite both living amongst the same legal community and sharing the same home court. This was the first time and, given the reputation of both, one might have expected fireworks at the confrontation. There were none.

A Truly "Special" Master

So what makes the appointment of Barry L. Zimmerman as special master so questionable? A reasonable Google search reveals more than is palatable.

Former Alpharetta judge was personal attorney for city prosecutor

According to an article written by Adrianne Murchison and published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in July of 2022, the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) found "reasonable cause" that Zimmerman "violated the code of judicial conduct.” It has since been confirmed that while Zimmerman was acting as the Alpharetta Municipal Court Judge, he "presided over thousands of cases argued by a solicitor who had hired him to be her private attorney," which is of course a conflict of interest.

"The JQC resolved its investigation against Zimmerman in June when he decided to step down from the bench. He agreed not to accept any elected or appointed judicial office in the future 'in lieu of formal charges,' the JQC report states. The report said the agreement is 'a fair disposition of the matter and is in the interests of justice.'"

Alpharetta judge presided over cases, represented defendants at same time, investigation finds

In a story by Bryan Mims of WSB-TV, it was reported that Zimmerman acted as both lawyer and judge in at least six cases dating back to 2008. Zimmerman denied the accusations. According to the investigation by the City of Alpharetta: "Instead of removing the case from the Municipal Court of Alpharetta to the State Court of Fulton County, Judge Zimmerman would negotiate the case with Solicitor Fran McQueen, use attorney Keith Brandon as a ‘straw man’ defense attorney on a plea in absentia and then have another Judge for the Municipal Court sign the orders."

"It was just devastating to think that the person in charge of making sure our court system worked well and worked legally was also the person who seems to have let us down," said city attorney Randy Rich.

But why would Judge Grubbs appoint a special master whose ethics have been so severely questioned that he is barred from serving as a judge in the State of Georgia?

Appearance Is Everything

The Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct ("CJC") prohibits not just impropriety but, rather, the CJC bars the mere "appearance of impropriety." And here, it certainly appears that Senior Judges (Grubbs and Schuster) are being used to do the dirty work of the underlying elected judges (Leftridge and Leonard), though without facing the consequences of having to fight for re-election as the elected judge would. By design, it is all a facade and we are left with but one solution: Hold the elected judges accountable for the acts of their Senior Judges.

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May 1, 2023