Ga. House Speaker Suggests Impeaching Judge Over Handling of Courthouse Shooter Case

Greg Land

Daily Report

Citing "serious questions about the poor handling of public funds," Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson has plunged the Legislature more deeply into the debate over the spiraling costs of the Brian G. Nichols murder trial. Richardson appointed a Senate committee Thursday to look into DeKalb Superior Court Senior Judge M. Hilton Fuller Jr.'s handling of the case. And Richardson suggested one option is impeachment, according to The Associated Press.

The Georgia Constitution provides little guidance on the circumstances that warrant impeachment of judges but it does allow for impeachment of judicial officers upon a two-thirds vote of the House.

Richardson named House Whip Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, to head the committee and said he will add two or three other lawmakers to the group. Both Richardson and Fleming are attorneys.

Henry County Superior Court Judge Arch W. McGarity, who chairs the state Council of Superior Court Judges, said he was unaware of any Georgia judge ever having been impeached.

"They certainly have the authority to form a committee and look into his handling of the case," said McGarity. But, he noted, the sections of the Georgia Code outlining reasons for impeachment don't seem to apply in Fuller's case.

"It seems to me that the JQC (Judicial Qualifications Commission) is probably the proper forum," he said, recalling that at least one Fulton County jurist, former State Court Judge Dorothy J. Vaughn, had been removed by the JQC in 1995 over issues involving her failure to set bond, among other things. "But that's not the issue here, either," he said dryly.

Several members of the General Assembly have raised questions about the spiraling costs -- between $1.2 million and $1.8 million -- to defend Nichols, accused of killing a Superior Court judge and three others during and after an escape for the Fulton County Courthouse on March 11, 2005.