Beyers challenging Winegarden for judgeship

A Superior Court judge with more than 25 years on the bench is the only judge in Gwinnett facing opposition for re-election this year.

Judge Richard T. Winegarden is challenged by family law attorney Karen Beyers in the Nov. 4 election.

Five other Superior Court judges and a State Court judge are also on the ballot this year, but they face no competition. Beyers says she is opposing Winegarden because he has a reputation for being disrespectful toward attorneys and witnesses in his courtroom and lags behind in his civil caseload.

“I don’t think he’s getting the job done and I don’t like the way he conducts himself in the courtroom,” Beyers said. “I think people need to be treated a certain way in the courtroom, with courtesy and respect.”

Winegarden dismissed those criticisms as dirty campaign tactics.

“She’s just run a negative campaign,” Winegarden said.

Beyers has spent the past 16 years representing clients in Superior Court, but she has no judicial experience.

By contrast, Winegarden has been in his post since 1987. He was a State Court judge in Gwinnett for four years before that.

“The issue is qualifications,” Winegarden said. “If you go to an airport and see two pilots, one who’s been a pilot for 25 years and the other who says ‘I think I can do it, I’ve got a map.’ Which plane are you going to get on?”

Beyers says experience only matters when it’s put to good use.

“Just because somebody has more experience in terms of years doesn’t mean they’re getting the job done,” she said.

Winegarden has the highest backlog of pending civil cases, according to a caseload comparison for all 10 Superior Court judges provided by the Gwinnett County Clerk of Court. He is in the middle of the pack in terms of his pending criminal case backlog.

Defense attorney Lee Washburn, who is Winegarden’s campaign manager, said Winegarden’s case backlog is higher because he doesn’t allow magistrate and senior judges to help him.

“He feels like he is the elected judge and he is the one that needs to hear his cases,” Washburn said. “I don’t think his caseload should be a criticism of him.”