Fulton judge ‘broke the law,’ watchdog says in damning report
In the worst of several missteps, a Fulton County judge illegally jailed a young woman called to testify in her parents’ divorce hearing and should be removed from the bench, Georgia’s judicial watchdog says.
Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams violated professional conduct rules in her handling of multiple cases, the hearing panel of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission reported Thursday. The 66-page report, published on the Georgia Supreme Court’s website, recommends the court remove Williams from the job she’s had since January 2021.
The three-member JQC panel said the outrageousness of Williams’ conduct speaks for itself and it had been difficult getting a straight answer out of her during an associated investigation and trial-like hearing.
“She broke the law in a way that is inexcusable,” the panel wrote about Williams’ jailing of 21-year-old Molly Dennis in October 2023, noting it happened while Williams knew she was under investigation for separate complaints. “Either she just did not care, or that was her best behavior.”
Williams’ lawyers said she is deeply disappointed by the panel’s recommendation, which she will challenge. The lawyers, Gabe Banks and Jamala McFadden, said Williams remains committed to serving the Fulton citizens who elected her.
“If the Supreme Court adopts the Panel’s recommendation, Judge Williams’ removal would be against the will of the voters and a loss to the citizens of Fulton County,” Banks and McFadden wrote in a statement Friday.
The judge previously acknowledged she was wrong to order that Dennis be handcuffed and placed in a holding cell at the Fulton courthouse, explaining she wanted to teach the young woman a lesson. Williams also admitted she let some family cases drag on for more than a year while the parties waited for her to make rulings.
The JQC panel said the case delays were the least troubling of Williams’ instances of misconduct, though still serious.
“From a man who was hungry and homeless and could not get necessary medical treatment, to a mother who mightily struggled financially for almost three years awaiting a child support ruling, to a father whose entire relationship with his children for years was a single ten-minute FaceTime call per week, the consequences were significant and outsized,” the panel wrote. “These parties were denied the certainty, stability, and relief that they deserved from the judicial system.”
Williams now has the opportunity to object to the panel’s recommendation and convince the state Supreme Court she deserves to stay on the bench. She previously told the JQC a reprimand or short suspension would be an appropriate sanction.
In its report, the panel said Williams also violated judicial ethics rules in handling a child custody case involving a Delta Sigma Theta sorority sister and by trying to use her influence as a judge to help her uncle in his court case.
The panel said it did not expect Williams to be perfect, but that her “stunning lack of candor” was disappointing.
“Given the level of untruthful testimony Judge Williams offered throughout, we are left with little option but to seek the ultimate sanction of removal,” the panel wrote. “A judge that cannot be trusted to tell the truth cannot be trusted to remain in office.”
About the Author
Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
