A North Georgia judge will resign from the bench amid an ethics investigation into whether she improperly used her position to try and help a Gainesville man who had been convicted of methamphetamine trafficking.
Superior Court Judge Lynn Akeley-Alderman of the Enotah Judicial Circuit submitted her resignation letter to Gov. Nathan Deal, saying she will resign Friday.
On Tuesday, Akeley-Alderman and the state Judicial Qualifications Commission engaged in testy exchanges, with the judge accusing the judicial watchdog agency's investigation as being unfair and unprofessional. In response, the agency said that since Akeley-Alderman is attacking its procedures, it is asking her to allow the release of its investigative file on her conduct to the public.
Deal now has two vacancies to fill in the Enotah circuit, comprised of Lumpkin, Towns, Union and White counties. Chief Judge David E. Barrett recently stepped down after it was disclosed he pulled out a handgun in frustration to make a point to a witness who was testifying in court about being an assault victim.
A year ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Akeley-Alderman had injected herself into a case involving a former insurance salesman, Charles Steven Stringer, who was sentenced in 2006 for drug trafficking and then released from prison early because of a paperwork snafu. Stringer was sentenced to 12 years in prison for charges filed in Forsyth County and three years in custody for similar conduct in Lumpkin.
Stringer was paroled after serving two years for the Lumpkin conviction and rearrested early last year when a background check showed he had not served the Forsyth term.
A hearing to decide whether to send him back to prison was set before Forsyth Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Bagley, who presided over Stringer’s trial.
Before the hearing, Akeley-Alderman took the highly unusual step of visiting Bagley in his chambers and telling him that Stringer was doing well in the community. Around the same time, Bagley also heard from politicians who told the judge how well Stringer was doing. Bagley disclosed these conversations during a March 2011 hearing, calling them "disturbing."
Bagley sent Stringer back to prison. Bagley declined to comment Tuesday on Akeley-Alderman’s resignation. Stringer has since been paroled.
Forsyth District Attorney Penny Penn called Akeley-Alderman’s decision to step down “unfortunate, but entirely appropriate. She insinuated herself into a case she had no business in and it was clearly a violation of her judicial ethics. This wasn’t a matter of it being a little bit gray. The violation doesn’t get any more direct than this.”
In a statement released Tuesday, Akeley-Alderman said the "Department of Corrections sentencing error" in the Stringer case allowed the commission's investigation "to delve into my life both on and off the bench, as well as the personal lives of my children, in ways in which I found inappropriate and unprofessional." She said she hoped the commission's policies and procedures would be revised to "comport with fundamental fairness and due process that all citizens, including judges, deserve."
"The financial costs of fighting these allegations have been astronomical and one I can no longer continue," she said. In resolving the case, Akeley-Alderman agreed not to seek or accept an elected or appointed judgeship in the future.
John Allen, a chief judge from Columbus who chairs the judicial commission, said Tuesday the commission often tries to give judges "the opportunity to retire with at least some modicum of dignity," and for this reason the agency does not always disclose all the facts uncovered by its investigation. Because Akeley-Alderman chose to take a "pot shot" at the commission, Allen said, the agency is asking her to allow it to release its investigative file so the public can make its own determination.
Akeley-Alderman did not respond to calls seeking comment. Her lawyer, Josh Belinfante, declined to comment on the request.
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