Q: Why is Judge Mary Staley of Cobb County presiding over the Harris murder trial that is hundreds of miles away in Brunswick?
—Herb Alfrey, Dacula
A: Staley, a Cobb Superior Court judge, originally was assigned to the case before she decided it should be moved from the county.
“Per the change of venue statute, the only court staff that would necessarily change is the clerk of court,” Atlanta legal expert and attorney Esther Panitch of the Panitch Law Group told Q&A on the News in an email. “Otherwise, the prosecutor and defense lawyers remain the same, unless a motion of recusal has been filed and granted.”
Staley moved the trial of Justin Ross Harris from Cobb County in May after she said there was a “pervasive bias” against him during jury selection, the AJC reported.
It recently restarted in Brunswick.
Q: Is it true that Hillary Clinton was once a “Goldwater Girl” who actively campaigned for the 1964 Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater?
—J.A. Jernigan, Atlanta
A: Clinton was a Goldwater supporter in 1964, when she was 16 years old.
She grew up in a conservative home and her father was a Republican.
“I was … an active Young Republican, and, later, a ‘Goldwater Girl,’ right down to my cowgirl outfit and straw cowboy hat emblazoned with the slogan “AuH2O,” she wrote in “Living History,” her 2003 memoir.
Even though she interned with the House Republican Conference in 1968, Clinton began to support Democrat Eugene McCarthy and his anti-Vietnam War campaign that year.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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