Embattled Brunswick chief judge resigning [The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville]

Dec. 20--BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda F. Williams has announced her retirement a week after the state agency that oversees judges leveled new charges of misconduct against her.

Williams advised Gov. Nathan Deal by letter of her intention to step down Jan. 2, the Governor's Office said. Williams also signed a consent agreement with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which brought the charges against her, that she would not seek another judicial office and would turn down senior status, according to the Associated Press.

The consent order also resolves the misconduct charges against her in the 31-page complaint including charges that she made false statements to investigators, a crime under Georgia law.</p>

Superior Court Judge E.M. Wilkes III said during a telephone from his chambers in Hazlehurst that Williams had called him this morning and told him of her resignation.

"It's just a sad thing," said Wilkes, who by virtue of his seniority will replace Williams as the chief judge of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission last week amended its Nov. 9 complaint in which it accused Williams of judicial misconduct especially in running her drug court, the state's largest.

Williams had imposed indefinite jail terms on drug court defendants, deprived some of contacts with their lawyers and jailed one man for questioning a positive drug test, which the JQC said he had the absolute right to do without fear of reprisal.

The JQC also accused her of giving favorable treatment to the family members of friends and those of high social standing by admitting them into her drug court although they did not qualify. That allowed them to avoid criminal prosecution, including Henry Bishop III whose admission to drug court allowed him to escape trial on an indictment charging him with cruelty to children in the beating of his two teenage sons.

His father was a prominent banker and his uncle, James Bishop, is a prominent lawyer.

If he were convicted of felony cruelty to children, Henry Bishop III would lose his insurance license and have no way of repaying his parents a $900,000 loan, Williams is quoted as saying in justifying his admission to drug court.

Williams said she was making the exception because it was about "being a Bishop" and that it was the only thing James Bishop had ever asked her to do for him.

Bishop issued a statement last week saying he had never asked Williams for any sort of intervention on behalf his nephew. He also said he respected the important work of the JQC and that in his experience Williams had run her court in accordance with all ethical rules.

The JQC complaint also said Williams allowed family members to practice before her. In one case Williams warned a parties in case they would be subject to contempt if they did not pay a $1,000 fee to her daughter, Frances Lyons, a lawyer who was acting as a court-appointed guardian in the case.

When it filed the amended complaint Dec. 12, the JQC said Williams violated judicial ethics by allowing John Ossick, a lawyer who practices in Kingsland, to continue appearing in cases before her.

At the same time it filed two additional charges to bring the total to 14, the JQC provided more detail on Williams actions.

The remaining four judges in the circuit will have to take on some of the load, but will be helped as they already are by Juvenile Court judges, senior judges and magistrates, Wilkes said.

But Wilkes said there is no emergency. "The main thing is the judiciary need to be steady and that the people can depend on it," he said. Wilkes said he will make no decisions arbitrarily but will first discuss things with the other judges.

If Deal accepts Williams' retirement, the governor will notify the Judicial Nominating Commission, which will notify lawyers in the circuit of the vacancy, Wilkes said. The lawyers will nominate candidates to the commission, which will interview candidates and submit a short list of thee to five to Deal, Wilkes said.

The governor would then interview the candidates himself before making an appointment to replace Williams

"I would anticipate that process would take three to four months," Wilkes said.

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