Brunswick attorney Jim Bishop denies asking embattled Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams to give his nephew favorable treatment and allow him to enter Williams' drug court.
In a statement, Bishop said, "I made no request of Judge Williams." Recent charges against Williams by the Judicial Qualifications Commission cited her comments in court in which she said that even though she knew it was the "wrong thing" to put Bishop's nephew into her drug court, she was doing it because Bishop had asked her to. At the time, the nephew faced family violence, not drug, charges.
Williams faces numerous ethics charges by the judicial commission and a trial is expected early next year. The case will be prosecuted by former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears and former state Attorney General Mike Bowers.
Amended charges served on Williams early this week accuse the judge of favoritism and cites the 2009 case involving Henry Bishop III, the nephew of Jim Bishop, a lawyer who also serves on the state's Judicial Nominating Commission.
When a drug court employee challenged Henry Bishop's placement in drug court, Williams responded, "It's called being a Bishop. And I don't want to have any more conversations about it. I know I'm doing the wrong thing, " the judicial commission's filing says.
Williams said this was not something she was willing to do for anyone else but was doing so in this case because the defendant was Jim Bishop's nephew, the filing says.
"Jim Bishop has been there for me for years and years and years, " Williams said. "He has never asked me for anything, ever, in the entire time I have been on the bench, to use my power in any case to do anything for anybody and he's asked me to do this. ... And it's that damn simple."
Williams also noted that if Henry Bishop did not enter the drug court program, he would lose his state insurance license and then could not repay a debt to his parents or support his family. She said she was "straining gnats and swallowing camels to make this thing work, " according to the filing.
In his statement released this week, Jim Bishop said, "I have great respect for Justice Sears and former Attorney General Mike Bowers and the important work of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. I also have great respect for Judge Williams and the service she has rendered to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit."
Bishop said he was providing the statement to both Williams' lawyer and the judicial commission. He also said he was making it public "because there has been a public report suggesting that I had some role in the handling of my nephew's case. Because Judge Williams' case before the Judicial Qualifications Commission is ongoing, I do not plan to make any further public comment on that matter."
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