ATLANTA — Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday ordered the removal of an embattled county probate judge over ethics charges brought by the state’s judicial watchdog agency.
Less than a year into her four-year term, in September 2021, the Judicial Qualifications Commission filed formal charges against her, alleging violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The agency amended the charges in February 2022 and again in July 2022, bringing the total to 50 counts of alleged misconduct. Twenty counts were dismissed before and during a final hearing, leaving an agency panel to address 30 counts.
The Supreme Court said the most troubling allegation against Peterson had to do with her treatment of a woman who appeared before her while trying to correct an error on her marriage certificate. Peterson held the woman in criminal contempt and imposed the maximum jail term of 20 days and a fine “without explanation or justification,” the panel found.
The high court conclude that her “multiple violations” of judicial rules — some of which reflected a “flagrant disregard for the law, court rules, and judicial conduct rules” — as well as a “pattern of violations,” some of them “extremely concerning,” made removal from the bench appropriate. She was arrested on charges of simple battery against a police officer and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
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