A disagreement between a judge and a senior assistant prosecutor last month erupted on Thursday into a heated confrontation in a back hallway of the Fulton County Courthouse between the judge and the district attorney.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin S. Arrington Sr. said that after he ordered Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda J. Dunikoski arrested for failing to pay a $100 fine for a contempt finding from last month, District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. “walked up to me, within [a] 1/4 inch of my face, and shouted that I was making a mockery of the judiciary.”