Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams of Brunswick has relinquished control of her drug court operation and will no longer preside over criminal cases until a state judicial watchdog investigation has ended, Judge Anthony Harrison, one of five Superior Court judges in Williams' circuit, said Wednesday.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission last week filed an ethics complaint against Williams, accusing her of indefinitely incarcerating defendants, making false statements and engaging in nepotism and "tryrannical partiality." A trial is expected next year to determine if she violated her oath of office and, if so, should be disciplined.
"She recognized it would not be appropriate for her to continue presiding over criminal matters, including drug court, until the Judicial Qualifications Commission proceedings are completed," Harrison said.
Williams will retain the civil cases currently assigned to her, but will not be assigned any new civil cases until the ethics proceedings have ended, Harrison added.
The civil charges set up a potential high-profile trial pitting Williams against the judicial commission’s designated prosecutors -- former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears and former state Attorney General Mike Bowers. Both Sears and Bowers are now private attorneys.
In a recent interview, Sears said Williams should be removed from the bench.
Williams’ drug court operation, the largest in the state, has been under intense scrutiny after the public-radio show “This American Life” gave her a harsh review in March. A number of the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s charges include cases profiled during the broadcast.
Williams won her first election to the bench in 1990. She has overseen drug courts in Glynn, Camden and Wayne counties.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission complaint accuses Williams of ordering Lindsey Dills, who had a history of attempted suicide, be placed in indefinite, restrictive detention in the Glynn County jail on Oct. 8, 2008.
Dills had entered the drug court program in March 2005 after pleading guilty to forging two of her parents’ checks for $100.
When Williams ordered Dills to be jailed indefinitely, this meant that Dills was “to have NO contact with anyone while she is incarcerated” and that included no mail, no phone calls and no visitors except for a drug court counselor, the complaint said, citing jail records.
Williams knew Dills had suicidal tendencies, having previously signed an order in 2006 placing her on suicide watch while in custody, the complaint said.
On Dec. 9, 2008, Dills attempted suicide while in solitary and restrictive confinement, the complaint said.
When asked about whether she had held a defendant in restrictive custody or solitary confinement, Williams denied it, the complaint said.
But the complaint also notes that Williams gave a directive to court officials after she sentenced Dills to indefinite incarceration: “She is not to have any telephone privileges and no one is to contact or visit her except [drug court counselor] Gail Kelly! Nobody! Total restriction!”
Court records indicate that neither Kelly nor Dills’ attorney visited Dills during the two months she was in custody before she tried to commit suicide, the complaint said.
Last year, the complaint said, when a juvenile probationer observing drug court chuckled during the proceedings, Williams began screaming at the girl and ordered her to be removed from the courtroom in handcuffs. Later that day, the girl was released from custody, the charges said.
On another occasion, when a drug court defendant used the term “baby momma,” Williams ordered that man “be summarily jailed,” the complaint said.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in April, Williams defended her use of lengthy jail time for her drug court’s participants.
“I didn’t just decide I was going to be mean to these people,” she said. “It’s all treatment-motivated.”
Williams added, “These people aren’t sitting in jail forever and ever and ever and ever. I’m fair. I’m consistent. I do care.”
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