An attorney for a magistrate judge on trial before the state Judicial Qualifications Commission asked the panel Friday to remember history and not treat his client like women burned at the stake as witches just because some people saw him as dangerous.
Catoosa County Magistrate Judge Anthony Peters was on trial because of his erratic behavior, gun play and controversial public pronouncements. His attorney, Chris Townley, suggested Peters' reputation as dangerous and unpredictable was largely myth and asked the five commissioners to allow him to keep his job.
"It's nothing new," Townley told the commission. "Somebody's behavior is different and the paranoia builds."
Witnesses testified Peters, once respected, had frightened court staff because he had become belligerent, was feuding with the chief magistrate, and carried a gun. A fellow magistrate said Peters once pointed the pistol at his own head and said, "I'm not afraid to die. Are you afraid to die?"
Peters, 49, a former deputy sheriff appointed a magistrate in Catoosa in 1997, finished a rare two-day trial before the commission Friday on 11 charges of violating the canon of ethics, ranging from degrading his office to breaking laws. The commission has not said when it will announce a verdict in the case.
Most judges so charged quit rather than endure the public humiliation of a trial but Peters said the magistrate job in the northwest Georgia county, just south of Chattanooga, defined his life.
For Appalachian Circuit District Attorney Joe Hendricks, the appointed prosecutor in the case, Peters' acts were so far beyond the pale that he had to be removed as a magistrate or the public would lose confidence in the courts.
"Magistrate judges decide whether people should go to jail; magistrate judges decide whether law enforcement officers can search someone's home," Hendricks said.
He reminded the commissioners of Peters' struggles with prescription opiates after being severely injured in a 2005 ATV accident. Peters claimed he smoked marijuana to wean himself off the narcotics.
As a judge, Peters had to be held to a high standard, Hendricks said. He noted Peters, when testifying about his marijuana use, refused to say who supplied him with the illegal drug. "He came into this tribunal and he sat there and protected the distributor of a controlled substance," Hendricks said.
Townley argued Peters had turned his behavior around and could again earn public respect. "We've seen many people who have fallen and gotten back up," the lawyer said.
Hendricks said Peters also embarrassed himself and the court with his appearances on a local television talk show in which he stated he would have been justified in killing the lawmen who arrested him after a June 2010 confrontation with Catoosa County Chief Magistrate Donald "Sonny" Caldwell because Peters thought it was an illegal arrest.
For Hendricks, Peters' worst act was identifying a confidential informant for the Sheriff's Office on the TV show, where Peters also lambasted Caldwell, the county's elected magistrate, who appointed Peters and two other deputy magistrates to four-year terms. Peters has been on paid leave since his June arrest.
Peters, who coveted the chief magistrate job, felt betrayed when Caldwell decided to stand for re-election and later filed a complaint against him at the judicial commission, alleging Caldwell had asked him to solicit campaign contributions.
He contended on the talk show Caldwell was retaliating against him for the ethics complaint. This week, he said his television appearance was a regrettable act.
"I'm not the same person," Peters said, adding he would again be a hard working, fair judge. "I put my heart and soul into that job," he said.
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