Political feud between two Georgia judges erupts with allegations of corruption

Gavel and scales
Gavel and scales
photo Catoosa County Superior Court Judge Brian House is sworn in during the swearing in of elected officials ceremony, held in the Catoosa County Superior Court in Ringgold, Ga. in 2012.
photo Superior Court Judge Ralph Van Pelt stands on the courthouse steps in Catoosa County in 2004.
photo Attorney Bobby Lee Cook is photographed in the law library of his office in downtown Summerville, Ga.

The loose seams holding a Georgia court system together gave way this week as an old political rivalry burst forth.

In a fight to be the chief judge of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, Ralph Van Pelt Jr. told Kristina Cook Graham that for years he has been reporting her alleged ethical violations to the state agency that oversees judges. And after the retiring chief judge tapped Graham as his replacement last week, Van Pelt and Superior Court Judge Brian House have attempted to undercut her.

During a meeting in Dade County on Monday, Van Pelt and House told Graham they would hold a three-person vote to determine the new chief judge, who is responsible for the management of the judicial circuit. Van Pelt and House then voted to make Van Pelt the chief judge.

Graham did not return multiple calls seeking comment Tuesday. But Van Pelt said he expects to hold another vote when Gov. Nathan Deal appoints a replacement for Judge Jon "Bo" Wood.

In a letter to Graham, Van Pelt explained why he thought she was unfit to run the judicial circuit. He said she spent too much time in her downtown Chattanooga house instead of her Chattooga County property. He also said she doesn't show up to work often enough and berates court employees, including House.

Van Pelt also brought up a 2009 public reprimand Graham received from the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Since then, Van Pelt said, he has been quietly feeding tips to the commission about Graham's supposed misbehavior.

"Now that you are aware of this and knowing you," Van Pelt wrote, "it will be impossible for us to be in the same room."

Lester Tate, a Cartersville, Ga., lawyer who said he is serving as a spokesman for Graham's family, accused Van Pelt of fighting with Graham because of a decades-old rivalry. Van Pelt and Graham's father, Summerville, Ga., lawyer Bobby Lee Cook, got into at least one public quarrel in the mid-'90s.

"Being a superior court judge does not give you the right to grind axes for perceived wrongs that you were on the receiving end of when you were in law practice," Tate said. "That's highly inappropriate. I'm shocked that Judge Van Pelt would do that."

Van Pelt has also criticized Wood, the circuit's former chief judge. He said Wood promised to refrain from picking a replacement before he left, allowing the other three judges to sort the issue out themselves. Then, last week, he appointed Graham.

Van Pelt said Wood's order holds no weight because he is now retired. He also accused Wood of ignoring complaints against Graham from attorneys and court employees for years.

"I find it even more dumbfounding that despite knowing about many (but not all) of Judge Graham's actions since 2009, you went ahead and signed this order," Van Pelt wrote in a letter to Wood. "Enjoy your retirement."

Old complaint

In his letter to Graham, Van Pelt listed reasons why she shouldn't be chief judge. They included the name Michael Leon Smith, a defendant in Chattooga County who was at the center of a Judicial Qualifications Commission complaint against Graham.

In 2005, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan, the GBI, the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration looked into Smith's alleged marijuana distribution ring. Three years later, with the case still active, the investigators asked a confidential informant about whether attorney Albert Palmour was involved in drug activity.

Palmour's father, Cecil Palmour, worked with Graham's father, Cook.

In August 2008, according to Keenan's complaint, Palmour confronted a drug task force agent about a supposed investigation into Graham.

"It is important to understand that Judge (Graham) is not the target of a DEA investigation," Keenan wrote. " It is apparent, however, that Judge (Graham) does not believe this as evidenced by her actions."

Palmour said Tuesday that the GBI director's version of events is incorrect. He said investigators approached him, asking about a previous investigation against Smith, whom he represented. That previous case against Smith did not stick, and state investigators wondered if local law enforcement worked with Smith to undermine that first investigation.

Palmour said investigators never approached him about drug activity. Or about Graham's involvement, for that matter.

"I probably did tell [the investigator] he was full of -- " Palmour wrote in an email. "By the way they always seem to think the lawyers are in business with their clients."

In February 2009, according to Keenan's complaint, Graham yelled at four different investigators over several days in her office. Keenan wrote that she cursed the officers and told them they were as guilty of crimes as the people they investigated. Days later, another investigator secretly recorded a conversation with Graham in her office.

"I know what you are doing," Graham yelled, "and you are a -- lying son of a -- ."

Keenan's complaint led to a public reprimand of Graham, though she remained on the bench. Van Pelt said he then began telling Judicial Qualifications Commission Investigator Richard Hyde about incidents in which Graham allegedly berated other court employees, lawyers and House, her fellow judge.

Tate, a former commission board chairman, said Van Pelt is not allowed to publicly discuss JQC complaints that he makes. In fact, he said, Van Pelt could now be punished for airing the issues out.

Van Pelt said that's not true, because he never filed a written complaint. He is free to talk, he said, because all of his discussions with Hyde were informal.

"Mr. Tate needs to review the JQC records," Van Pelt said. "He will see that I never once filed a written complaint against Judge Graham."

Old rivalry

Van Pelt and House also have recused themselves from hearing any cases from Cook's law firm. In a letter attached to his motion, Van Pelt said Cook had tried to send a warning to him last week.

"I am in receipt of your third party message that if I do not submit to your daughter's supposed authority, there will be a 'blood bath,'" Van Pelt wrote. "Quite frankly, this is much more clumsy and direct than the punishment you inflicted on me for helping the FBI investigate your client and family friend, Ronnie Bowman while I was District Attorney."

In 1993, according to Times Free Press archives, Van Pelt asked an outside prosecutor to investigate Bowman. Supposedly, the former Catoosa County sheriff had created a slush fund based on money that was supposed to go to a children's charity, Stockings Full of Love.

Cook represented Bowman, who was never formally charged.

"This is a political move on [Van Pelt's] part, and it's bad judgment," Cook told the Times Free Press in July 1994. "He has a big surprise coming."

One month later, a series of criminal cases Van Pelt was prosecuting in Chattooga County were thrown out of court on a technicality.

In August 1994, a grand jury made a series of indictments. But after the hearing, Judge Joseph Loggins learned a member of the grand jury was a city councilman, which is illegal. A new grand jury convened later that month and made the same indictment. This time, Loggins learned the foreman had served as a Democratic committeeman, which is also illegal.

A third grand jury convened. It made indictments a third time. Later, one of Cook's clients was convicted of theft by taking. Cook appealed, pointing out a Georgia law that prosecutors can't indict defendants three times for the same action. The case was thrown out.

So were a slew of other cases, Van Pelt said, including one against an accused child molester. Van Pelt believed Cook had orchestrated the slip-up behind the scenes, out of revenge for the investigation against Bowman.

"That's the way I look at it," he said Tuesday.

Asked about Van Pelt's accusation, Cook said he had not yet received the judge's letter. After the Times Free Press sent Cook a copy, Tate called the newspaper, explaining he was serving as Cook's spokesperson.

"I'm very dismayed that a judge, a sitting judge, would apparently be trying to take vengeance of some sort on Bobby Lee Cook's daughter for a case that he handled over 20 years ago," Tate said.

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.

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