Georgia Criminal Appellate Law Blog Offering Insight on the Practice of Appellate Law and Commentary from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Tag Archives: JQC

JQC Zaps Another Magistrate Judge

By Scott Key on Posted in News

Robin McDonald of the Fulton Daily Report notes in a story today that Murray County Magistrate Judge Bryant Cochran resigned his post as Chief Magistrate Judge. His resignation letter departs from they typical fare of this genre — quivery sharky handwritten script, tendered to Richard Hyde. He doubled the average sentence length to two whole… Continue Reading

Ex-Magistrate’s Lawsuit Blackens Eye of Ga. Judiciary

By Scott Key on Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis, Supreme Court of Georgia

This won’t end well. Anthony Peters, the former Catoosa County assistant Magistrate Judge has filed a civil rights suit against the his former boss as well as the Sheriff of Catoosa County. When I read Joy Lukachick’s article (hat tip to her) in the Chattanooga Times Free Press about the lawsuit, I had to pull the… Continue Reading

Trial Objections are no Substitute for an Appellate Strategy

By Scott Key on Posted in Preservation of Error

The Lawyerist wrote an evocative post last week about when and how to object at trial. In it, Andy Mergendahl notes that “Objecting at times other than when absolutely necessary to keep crucial inadmissible evidence out will really hurt you.” He advises, instead, to handle as many objections as possible as motions in limine. What… Continue Reading

Georgia JQC Sweeps Another Judge’s Conduct Under the Rug

By Scott Key on Posted in Uncategorized

It appears that the best place in the State to skirt the edge of the law is the judicial chambers of a Georgia court. If your crime catches the attention of the Judicial Qualification Commission and they investigate first, then you might lose your job. But that’s about it. Brian K. Finnicum, the Editor of… Continue Reading

21 Judges Disciplined by Georgia’s Star Chamber, the JQC

By Scott Key on Posted in News

Robin McDonald’s article poses the question of why the Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission has zapped so many judges this year. The simple answer is that they deserved it. But, read a little more, and the story is pretty disturbing.  While the commission has taken out some judges who had it coming, I can’t say that… Continue Reading

Georgia Judicial News: Judges Gone Wild Edition

By Scott Key on Posted in News, Preservation of Error

I don’t want to bury the lead. So, here it is. There must be enough error out there in Georgia to win a slew of appeals. Georgia judges must be messing up on hearsay, the Fourth Amendment, and jury charges. All those things are hard. Many of them, so far this year, are messing up… Continue Reading