DeKalb judge can stay on cases after DA alleges ‘bias,’ fellow judge rules
A DeKalb County judge has denied a request by District Attorney Sherry Boston to remove another county judge from all criminal cases until associated misconduct charges are resolved.
A spokesperson for Boston said Friday she is considering an appeal, among other options.
Boston asked Monday that DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Parker-Smith recuse herself in all criminal cases and associated matters involving the district attorney’s office until the end of a misconduct case filed against the judge by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Parker-Smith, one of nine judges on the court, is accused of improperly threatening to jail Boston and two assistant district attorneys, among other things.
Boston claimed in her recusal request that Parker-Smith is biased against her and her staff, saying the public can’t be confident that criminal cases and other matters, including grand jury proceedings, will be handled fairly by the judge.
On Thursday, Parker-Smith asked that another of the court’s judges decide the recusal request. Parker-Smith noted in a court filing that a trial in one of her criminal cases, involving allegations of rape and sexual battery, was scheduled to begin Monday.
Judge Gregory Adams denied Boston’s recusal request Friday in a written order, saying the district attorney failed to show that a fair-minded and impartial person would have reason to question Parker-Smith’s impartiality in more than 400 criminal cases pending before her as well as future criminal matters. He said the JQC’s allegations against Parker-Smith and the fact they have been publicly reported do not warrant his fellow judge’s recusal.
“Should the JQC disciplinary proceeding continue, DA Sherry Boston and several of her ADAs will be witnesses against Judge Parker-Smith,” Adams wrote. “A reasonable person would not necessarily conclude from that fact that Judge Parker-Smith may retaliate against the State or treat the State favorably in criminal cases rather than simply making legal rulings on a case-by-case basis as the evidence dictates.”
Parker-Smith’s lawyer in the misconduct case, Gabe Banks, said she has presided over hundreds of cases involving Boston’s office, requiring the district attorney’s staff to appear before her in court on a regular basis.
“In each of those matters, Judge Parker-Smith has faithfully discharged her duties by fairly and impartially calling balls and strikes, consistent with her constitutional mandate and the Code of Judicial Conduct,” Banks said in a statement Friday.
In his order, Adams said Boston has not identified any prejudicial behavior by Parker-Smith since the jail threat in May 2023. He said Boston’s argument that there’s a risk of improper treatment in all criminal cases on Parker-Smith’s docket is speculative.
“Similarly speculative is the argument that citizens and crime victims have legitimate reasons to question Judge Parker-Smith’s ability to be impartial in all criminal cases because of a pending inquiry into two incidents involving the District Attorney’s Office in 2023,” he wrote.
Last week, the JQC accused Parker-Smith of violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct, saying she improperly threatened to jail Boston and two associate district attorneys for allegedly being in contempt of court.
Parker-Smith was also accused of illegally jailing attorney Gerald Griggs, the past president of the Georgia NAACP, for being late to a court hearing in August 2024. He said his “unlawful” and “deeply unfortunate” detention deprived him of due process, though he had complied with superior court rules.
The JQC also alleged that Parker-Smith refused in February to return indictments in court because a certain sheriff’s corporal was present.
In response to the misconduct charges, Banks said Parker-Smith “does her best to approach every case and every matter before her with good intentions and a sincere commitment to the fair administration of justice.”
“She remains dedicated to carrying out her judicial responsibilities fairly, impartially and in service to the citizens of DeKalb County,” he said last week.
In a court filing Monday, Boston said Parker-Smith only backed down from “aggressively” pursuing the jail threat after she and the other prosecutors hired private attorneys, who then had extensive off-the-record discussions with the judge’s lawyer. Boston noted the judge’s “very unusual” decision to send sheriff’s deputies to her office in the courthouse to summon her to explain why she shouldn’t be jailed.
“Any reasonable person could only conclude that Judge Parker-Smith’s bias and prejudice against me, the affected ADAs, and my entire staff would influence her decisions in any criminal case we prosecute before her,” Boston wrote. “There are now serious and legitimate questions about whether her rulings are based solely on the information she learned during a case.”
It could take years before the JQC case is resolved, depending on how Parker-Smith chooses to respond to the allegations. A judge since the start of 2021, she faces possible punishment by the Georgia Supreme Court, including removal from the bench.
A former public defender admitted to practice law in Georgia in 2004, Parker-Smith won election to the bench in 2020, beating four other candidates vying for the nonpartisan seat vacated by the retirement of Clarence Seeliger. She was reelected, without an opponent, in 2024 to another four-year term.