The state Judicial Qualifications Commission has filed ethics charges against a former president of the Council of State Court Judges of Georgia, accusing him of illegally fining criminal defendants to boost his salary, allowing social relationships to influence his judicial conduct and verbally attacking people in his courtroom whom he believed had supported his political opponent.
The JQC said Friday that Grady County State Court Judge J. William Bass Sr.a part-time judge who shares a legal practice with his son, John William Bass Jr.also improperly appointed his son to hear matters whenever the judge was not available; routinely escorted Hispanic defendants out of the courtroom to speak with them privately about their cases without a court reporter or a prosecutor present; suggested that prosecutors dismiss criminal cases because he knew members of the defendants’ families; and threatened members of the Georgia State Patrol who took exception to some of his rulings.
