Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford announced Tuesday he will retire when his current term expires at the end of the year, creating a wide open judicial election and ending a three-decade career on the bench.
Bodiford, who will turn 65 in August, has presided over a number of high-profile murder cases in Cobb County and other venues where he was called in for service: Brian Nichols, the courthouse shooter in Fulton County; Fred Tokars, the ex-lawyer who hired a hit on his wife; and Lynn Turner, who poisoned her husband with antifreeze in his coffee and was caught after the next man in her life died the same way. Bodiford also handled pre-trial work and a plea deal in the Tri-State Crematory case, where bodies intended for cremation were discarded on the site.
