BUCHANAN, Ga. (AP) - A west Georgia grand jury declined to indict a superior court judge on misdemeanor battery charges after his wife recanted her accusation.
The Times-Georgian of Carrollton reports Haralson County grand jurors on Friday declined to indict Superior Court Judge Meng Lim.
Lim had been arrested in July and charged in connection with a Feb. 17 incident. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in July that the judge's wife contacted a friend and told her about being hit multiple times by Lim during an argument, also sending her pictures of bruising and scratching.
Now, though, Haralson County District Attorney Jack Browning and defense lawyer Bob Rubin say the wife contends it was not her husband that hit her, but Lim's 15-year-old daughter, the wife's stepdaughter.
Browning said in a statement that Lim said his only involvement was to break up the fight, and that the judge is unsure how his wife's injuries occurred.
Rubin said the daughter "consistently maintained" that her father didn't strike his wife and that Lim passed a polygraph test when asked whether he "ever intentionally caused physical harm" to his wife. Rubin said grand jurors didn't hear about those things, but still concluded there wasn't enough evidence to indict Lim.
Browning said he considers the case closed.
Lim temporarily stepped down from the bench in the circuit covering Polk and Haralson counties after he was charged. He was also being investigated by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which can discipline or remove judges for violating the code of judicial conduct. Director Chuck Boring wrote in an email Tuesday that the commission's investigation into Lim continues. It wasn't immediately clear Tuesday when or if Lim will be returning to the bench.
Lim became the first Asian American superior court judge in Georgia when he was elected to an open seat in 2014.