A former North Georgia judge was convicted Thursday of conspiring to plant drugs on a woman after she publicly accused him of propositioning her in his chambers.
Bryant Cochran, once the chief judge of Murray County’s Magistrate Court, was found guilty of all six counts against him. These included federal civil rights charges for orchestrating the planting of the drugs, sexually assaulting a county employee over a six-year period, conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and witness tampering.
Cochran, who faces almost certain prison time, is to be sentenced Feb. 20. He served eight years as a judge at the courthouse in Chatsworth, located about 90 miles from Atlanta at the foothills of the North Georgia mountains.
The breathtaking case stemmed from a state Judicial Qualifications Commission investigation that led to Cochran’s resignation from the bench in August 2012. The commission launched its probe after a Chatsworth woman, Angela Garmley, said Cochran came onto her when she appeared before him to take out warrants against three people she said had assaulted her. Cochran told her he wanted a mistress he could trust and asked her to return to the courthouse wearing a dress with no underwear, Garmley said.
On Aug. 14, 2012, just days after she went public with her accusations, Garmley was pulled over during a traffic stop. Police arrested her after finding a container of methamphetamine stuck to the bottom of her vehicle. Charges against her were soon dismissed, and a subsequent GBI and FBI investigation led to a federal grand jury indictment against Cochran in May.
“It’s a shame that a judge we were investigating would try to set up one of the people he was elected to serve and help achieve justice,” said Lester Tate, chair of the state judicial watchdog agency.
“I think it proves that when you come forward with valid complaints that we will investigate them, and if you are retaliated against we will stand behind you,” Tate said. “This sends a strong, strong message that anyone who does that can end up just like Judge Cochran.”
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