Attorneys representing four defendants in a double murder case are renewing their call for Cobb County Superior Court Judge Reuben Green to recuse himself because of comments he made at a recent hearing about his past association with Cobb District Attorney Pat Head.
Defense attorneys earlier had argued the past connection with Head raises questions about whether the judge can be objective.
Green was a prosecutor in Head's office. He also selected Head as his campaign treasurer in 2009 when he ran for State Court judge. Green terminated that campaign in October, when he was appointed to the Superior Court bench.
Green this week denied a motion asking that he step aside, filed by defense attorney Bert Cohen on behalf of Desmond Post.
Post is charged with murder in the Dec. 9, 2009, shootings of two people during an armed robbery at an apartment complex in Marietta. Joining Cohen in the motion were defense attorneys for co-defendants Rolanda Fripp, Joseph Eugene Brown and Jarvis Butts, who are also charged with murder. The defendants face a possible sentence of life in prison without parole.
Defense attorney Jimmy Berry also is asking Green to recuse himself in a separate death penalty murder case in which Patrick Graham is charged. He said the judge's close affiliation with Head "just doesn't look right." Graham is charged with killing Matthew Cherry, the manager of a Marietta video game store, during a robbery.
Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram will hear arguments in that case July 20.
Green addressed concerns about his close ties to the DA's office for the first time Tuesday, when he denied Cohen's recusal motion and said, "I do not believe there is any reason my impartiality can be questioned."
He said he was an assistant district attorney when the case involving Post and his co-defendants was indicted, but he had not worked on it or supervised anyone who worked on it. Green disputed the allegation that his association with Head would cloud his judgment.
"He did not give me this job," Green said of Head. "The governor gave me this job."
Green said at the hearing that he evidently made an error when he filed paperwork to end his State Court campaign with Cobb County government last year.
However, the error was actually an administrative one between the county elections office and the state ethics commission.
Stacey Kalberman, the executive secretary for the state ethics commission, said Friday that the county elections office never informed the state that Green's campaign had been terminated. As a result, Green's State Court campaign was still technically listed as active until Wednesday, when Kalberman fixed the discrepancy.
Defense attorney John Rife, who represents Brown, is still unsatisfied with the judge's explanations. He said he plans to file another recusal motion and request an immediate appeal as soon as a transcript of Tuesday's hearing becomes available.
"This court has taken upon itself to explain why it did or did not do anything," Rife said. "Even if it didn't exist before, now exists an appearance of impropriety."
If the appeals court decides Green should have been disqualified, any subsequent proceedings in the case -- including a trial -- will be considered invalid.
At one point during Tuesday's hearing, Green asked defense attorneys if they thought he should disclose his past association with Head to every defendant who comes before him.
"If I were you, I would," Cohen said.
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