Panel details why it investigated Columbus judge

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The state Judicial Qualifications Commission on Monday explained why it was investigating Superior Court Judge Douglas Pullen of Columbus when he announced he would retire at the end of the month.

The panel gave three reasons for its investigation: whether Pullen allowed his social or professional relationships influence his judicial conduct; whether he engaged in improper, private conversations with lawyers who had pending cases before him; and whether he failed to comply with the law when he presided over a case in which a child molester was sentenced to prison in 2002 but remained at large until this year.

In a filing before the Georgia Supreme Court, commission director Jeff Davis noted that "a mutually agreed upon disposition" was reached before a formal hearing could be held on the allegations against Pullen.

Pullen, the former district attorney in Columbus, the state's third-largest city, was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Zell Miller in 1995. He is among judges in Georgia, including several in metro Atlanta, who stepped down while under investigation by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which probes allegations of judicial misconduct.

In a recent consent order, Pullen agreed to "not seek, request or accept senior judge status for any court for which he is currently eligible or might become eligible in the future." The order was signed by Pullen and Davis.

Pullen stepped down about a week after Joe Hendricks, a special prosecutor assigned to the case, began investigating allegations that a judge from Pullen's circuit tipped off the targets of an undercover FBI operation in Talbot County.