N. Ga. judge charged with misconduct

By Carrie Teegardin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

AJC results - The state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission this morning accused a north Georgia judge of eleven counts of judicial misconduct.

The allegations against Superior Court Judge Oliver Harris Doss Jr. range from taking state computers, insulting and threatening court staff and the repeated failure to rule on cases for months or even years.

Doss voluntarily resigned his position on Friday, effective Dec. 5. But the commission proceeded with the charges in spite of the resignation.

The developments follow a Nov. 1 Atlanta Journal-Constitution story that focused on Doss.

Doss declined to be interviewed when reached by the Journal-Constitution on Monday.

According to one count, Doss gave his assistant a heated lecture in a public place, in which he told her in a loud voice, “Don’t you ever talk back to a superior court judge.”

In two other incidents, Doss threw documents at the Gilmer Court Clerk of Court and spoke in an argumentative tone to parties during a trial, throwing papers and pens, according to the charges.

He is also accused of allowing three of the court’s laptop computers to be used for unofficial purposes by his son, his wife and a former law clerk.

The most serious charges against Doss appear to relate to his failure to rule on matters before him, over and over again.

Although state law prescribes that Doss rule on matters within 30 days, he regularly took months or even years to make a decision, according to the commission’s investigation.

Doss’s colleagues in the Appalachian Judicial Circuit signed an order over the weekend removing Doss from criminal cases he was schedule to hear.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission is the state body that investigates complaints of judicial misconduct. By filing its Notice of Formal Proceedings, the commission is officially charging Doss with misconduct. Doss has the right to defend himself against the charges in the equivalent of a trial.

In his resignation letter, Doss criticized the commission for its handling of the case. The commission’s investigations must be kept confidential under state law, but Doss said “this investigation had little or no pretense of confidentiality.”