Barnes argues to quash case against ex-Cobb EMC CEO

By Margaret Newkirk

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An  imaginary man with mud on his boots and a dirty shirt is threatening a Cobb County grand jury's 31-count theft and racketeering indictments against Dwight Brown, chief executive of Marietta-based Cobb EMC.

Enlarge photo

Bob Andres, AJC Dwight Brown (left) talks with Cobb EMC board member Al Fortney in this 2009 photo.

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The man is the creation of Brown's attorney, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes. In a five-hour hearing Thursday, Barnes repeatedly conjured up the hypothetical tramp, saying the Brown indictments were handed down in a new courthouse that wasn't officially open to the public until four days later.

Indictments, he said, have to be presented in open court "so that a man with mud on his feet, dirty, smelling, can walk right in."

By indicting Brown in the new courthouse with its front doors locked, the court robbed Brown of his rights, Barnes said, in a prosecution "that is seeking to imprison a man for life. That's what we're talking about here."

A Cobb grand jury indicted Brown Jan. 6 on charges he had conspired to steal from the co-op he has led since 1993. The court was still moving from the old courthouse to a new one across the street; the two are joined by a glassed-in catwalk.

Superior Court judges, including Judge George Kreeger, had moved to the new building after a Dec. 18 ribbon cutting. But the security system wasn't up yet, so the doors to the street were locked.

Because Kreeger asked the grand jury to present its findings in his new courtroom, the court arranged to escort visitors and the media across the catwalk, which was guarded by deputies.

Prosecutor John Butters and Cobb Sheriff Neal Warren said the escorts made sure the public could get to the courtroom and the deputies were there to guard construction equipment still on site. Barnes said his dirty man wouldn't want an escort and wouldn't have gotten through.

Butters said the charges should stand: "Let's not lose sight of the fact that no one was excluded from this," he said. "All their case is about is this hypothetical guy with dirty shoes and a dirty shirt."

Judge Robert Flournoy will rule later this month. If the charges are quashed, the prosecution can re-indict.