A Clarke County Superior Court judge will be removed from the case he was hearing involving the 2010 killing of a police officer.
The defendant in the case, Jamie Hood, has argued that Judge Lawton Stephens admitted knowing the slain Athens-Clarke County officer, Elmer “Buddy” Christian, and attended his funeral in 2010. As a result, the murder suspect said, Stephens would not be impartial in the case.
Clarke County Superior Court Judge David Sweat has been hearing motions in the case since Stephens stepped aside while his fate as the judge in the case was decided. Sweat ruled Friday that Stephens should not hear the case, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Hood has admitted killing Christian and wounding Athens-Clarke County Officer Tony Howard in the 2010 attack.
Since the case has been bogged down for months as Hood has also sought the removal of his two court-appointed attorneys, who wanted Hood declared mentally incompetent. The two attorneys quit the case, and Hood’s newest public defender, Newell Hamilton Jr. of Brunswick, says he has not been given enough time to work on the case.
Hamilton was not prepared at a hearing earlier this week, leaving Sweat exasperated, according to Channel 2.
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