PDF: Warrants against Peters from police PDF: Warrants from Peters against police
RINGGOLD, GA. – A Catoosa County magistrate judge says he was embarrassed and humiliated Wednesday morning when he had his fingerprints taken along with his mug shot at the county jail.
“It’s like a slap in the face,” Judge Anthony Peters said. “How can you criminally trespass in your own office?”
Peters voluntarily turned himself in at the Catoosa County Jail on Wednesday morning for charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with a June 16 incident at the county magistrate courthouse.
On Wednesday, it took about 30 minutes for Peters to be booked on the two misdemeanor charges and released after posting a cash bond of $1,000.
In June, after a heated confrontation over a complaint Peters filed against Chief Magistrate Judge Donald “Sonny” Caldwell, Peters was escorted from the courthouse in handcuffs but no charges were filed.
A week later, Peters filed warrants against Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers and nine law enforcement officers involved in his arrest on several charges, including false imprisonment, court documents show.
Peters claimed he could not be asked to leave his office since only the state Judicial Qualifications Commission has the authority to suspend a judge.
The next day, Summers filed a warrant for Peters, saying the judge had refused lawful requests to leave the courthouse and had disrupted “day-to-day operations of the courthouse,” court documents show.
On Tuesday, Conasauga Judicial Circuit Chief Judge William Boyett dismissed the warrants filed by Peters, saying the application forms “do not demonstrate probable cause,” court documents show. At the same time, Boyett issued a warrant for Peters’ arrest on the criminal trespass and disorderly conduct charges.
But Boyett acted illegally because he didn’t notify Peters about Tuesday’s hearing, Peters said.
“I was never given an opportunity to tell my side of the story,” Peters said. “That’s the reason you have a hearing.”
Boyett did not return calls seeking comment.
Summers did not return messages left at the sheriff’s office, but issued a news release stating Peters had posted his bond.
One Georgia law expert said that, while Georgia law is unclear about when a defendant must be present for a warrant to be issued, Peters’ case could be appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
“It’s a question that needs to be resolved,” said University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson.
Georgia law on warrants states that, if an application warrant is filed by someone other than a peace or law enforcement officer, the judge must schedule a warrant application hearing, unless the accused person has been taken into custody. Several exceptions apply if the person is considered a threat to the public safety.
In Peters’ case, he claims he was no threat to the public and was not given the opportunity to explain his case.
The only warrant application that is still pending is the one Peters filed against Summers in Catoosa County Probate Court, said Probate Court Judge Gene Lowery.
Lowery said he has the authority to issue a warrant for a sheriff if he decides the claims have a probable cause.
“(Peters) will be notified when I make a decision,” he said.
Both Peters and Caldwell are reportedly under investigation by the Judicial Qualifications Commission for the June incident, but neither judge has been suspended.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is also investigating Peters on an unrelated matter at the request of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney. The investigation is a jewelry theft case involving a woman friend of Peters.
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