A Whitfield County Superior Court judge recused himself from 45 cases in which Georgia is represented by Assistant District Attorney Christina Antalis after prosecutors filed a request for the judge to recuse himself based on his comments regarding Antalis’ wheelchair.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Keely Parker filed the motion for Judge Jim Wilbanks to recuse himself on June 22, citing that judges are disqualified from presiding over cases in which they have a personal bias or their impartiality might be questioned. Parker wrote that according to Antalis’ affidavit, Wilbanks demonstrated his bias by making remarks concerning Antalis’ physical disability.
In the affidavit, Antalis said Wilbanks told her that her physical limitations had come to the point where he didn’t want to try Antalis’ cases in his courtroom because it would introduce bias in favor of the state when cases are handled by Antalis. She said, in the affidavit, the incident happened after court ended on June 19.
In her response to Wilbanks, Antalis said that she didn’t believe the wheelchair was a limitation and that she was still able to communicate, according to the affidavit.