A federal judge from Alabama accused of assaulting his wife at an upscale downtown hotel was granted bond Monday, but he was told to return to Atlanta Aug. 22 for a hearing on the matter.
U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, who presides over the federal court district based in Montgomery, was represented by a public defender during his first appearance at the Fulton County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest after the Saturday night incident at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel where he and his wife were staying.
Fuller told State Court Chief Judge Stephanie Davis he planned to hire an attorney.
He walked out the jail at 11:31 a.m. on a $5,000 signature bond, Fulton sheriff’s spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said in an emailed statement.
One condition of Fuller’s release is that he have no violent contact with his wife.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said Fuller’s wife told officers “she was assaulted by her husband.” Fuller’s wife, who was not named, refused to be taken to a hospital so paramedics treated her at the scene.
Fuller was nominated to the bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush and has been a controversial figure in Alabama politics, largely for his role in the trial of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat who was convicted in 2006 of selling a seat on a hospital regulatory board to former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy in exchange for $500,000 in donations to Siegelman’s 1999 referendum campaign to establish a state lottery.
Siegelman’s family members and supporters claim the former governor’s prosecution was politically motivated and that Fuller should have recused himself because of conflicts of interest.
Fuller was previously accused of domestic violence.
An Alabama newspaper reported in 2012 that records filed in Fuller’s then-pending divorce included allegations of domestic violence, drug abuse and an affair with a court bailiff.
