PDF: Press release of Bobby Lee Cook PDF: Judge Cook reprimand PDF: Connelly complaint
SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — A local judge and daughter of a prominent state lawyer stood quietly as she was reprimanded Tuesday for using profanity and accusatory language toward law enforcement agents.
“For your conduct, you are hereby publicly reprimanded. You are furthermore cautioned that any repetition of such conduct can, and likely will, result in punishment of the severest possible nature,” Judge Daniel Craig read to Judge Kristina Cook Connelly Graham in Chattooga County Superior Court.
During the 10-minute reading, Judge Graham, wearing a floral dress, clasped her hands in front of her behind a podium until Judge Craig, of the Augusta Judicial Circuit, asked her to go forward and accept the public reprimand.
“I thank (the) judge, my family, friends and members of the (Georgia) Bar Association,” Judge Graham said, adding that she was glad the issue was resolved.
In almost 40 years that Court Clerk Lann Cordle has worked in the Chattooga County Superior Court, he said this is the first time he is aware of a judge being publicly reprimanded.
A complaint was filed against Judge Graham last year by Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who said she attacked the credibility and character of law enforcement agents.
The GBI “appreciates the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s attention to this matter,” the bureau’s spokesman John Bankhead wrote in an e-mail.
On Sept. 5, 2008, Judge Graham summoned to her office and reprimanded two special prosecutors involved in an investigation of alleged election fraud in Chattooga County, according to the documents. She had already recused herself from the case because her father, Bobby Lee Cook, represented the defendant.
About two dozen local attorneys sat in the Chattooga courtroom along with Mr. Cook, who distributed a written statement to members of the press.
“First, in the interest of fairness and correctness, I would like to point out that what occurred that is the subject of the reprimand, took place in the private chamber of Judge Graham and not in the public arena of the courtroom,” he wrote.
“Second, I can objectively state that she has consistently discharged her professional duties in literally hundreds of hearings and trials in a fair, impartial and professional manner, always being diligent and careful to protect the constitutional rights of all parties,” he added.
But the improper attacks on the law enforcement agents occurred both on and off the bench, according to the reprimand documents.
Jeff Ratliff was one of several men — including one who refused to comment but called himself “one of the victims of the judge” — who were in court Tuesday to witness the proceeding.
“I’ve personally met Mrs. (Graham). With me I think she was fair, but I feel she had a conflict of interest when my brother came before her (for child support)” in a separate case, said Mr. Ratliff.
“She needs to be taken down a notch,” he added.
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