A decade ago, Courtney Johnson had just moved from the DeKalb County solicitor’s office to become a senior prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office.
It was a fast rise for the Decatur native and Emory Law School graduate. But it was just the beginning of a meteoric rise for the woman elected to the DeKalb Superior Court bench in 2010.
Judge Courtney Johnson, 39, is overseeing one of the most high-profile cases in metro Atlanta, the political corruption allegations against suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis.
That case has so far been notable not just for its well-known defendant but for the increasingly personal and incendiary attacks between Ellis’ defense team and District Attorney Robert James.
Johnson has already tempered that theater with her businesslike approach in two sets of hearings and rulings on several motions.
In Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, read about her background and personality and how the Decatur native and Emory Law School graduate could leave more of a mark on the case when it heads to trial in September.
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