East Cobb Courts & Trials

Cobb Family Justice Center leaders to begin ‘Listening Tour’

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Cobb District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. announces the Family Justice Center “Listening Tour” kickoff, hosted by Cobb’s FJC Site Coordinator TaNesha McAuley, and Jenny Aszman of Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

The Listening Tour will begin March 1 with the FJC’s Core Partners and service providers. 

“The listening sessions will give us the opportunity to meet each of our Core Partners in small-group sessions to hear why they believe a Family Justice Center in Cobb County would be ideal and to gain perspective into how we can ensure that all of our ideas come together to best serve the needs of individuals who have been harmed by domestic or family violence or other types of interpersonal violence,” McAuley said. 

Cobb was one of three counties in Georgia awarded a grant last fall through the Victims of Crime Act to implement this model, which has proven to reduce domestic violence, sexual assaults, child and elder abuse, and human trafficking. The four-year grant, worth up to $400,000, is administered through Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

The Family Justice Center initiative is one of the most inclusive and evidence-based models that brings all our partners together in one location to best meet the needs of victims and survivors of abuse.

The listening sessions will be held with Core Community Partners of the FJC, including Cobb’s Public Safety Department; the Cobb Solicitor General’s Office; liveSAFE Resources; SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc.; Kennesaw State University’s WellStar College of Health and Human Services, and others.

The Listening Tour will expand into our Cobb communities as we invite residents to be part of the planning, development, and implementation of Cobb’s FJC. Earlier this year, dozens of community members responded to the readiness assessment, providing input to tailor the FJC to meet Cobb’s specific needs. Also, a recording of the December 2020 kick-off meeting is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koyu5s3P090.

For more FJC updates, visit www.cobbda.com or email fjccobb@cobbcounty.org.

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Cobb seeks injunction against Tokyo Valentino during litigation

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Tokyo Valentino East Cobb

Cobb County has filed a motion to enjoin the Tokyo Valentino adult retail store in East Cobb from doing business while local and federal court cases continue.

On Feb. 4, Scott Bergthold, a Chattanooga attorney hired by Cobb County to handle the Tokyo Valentino matter, filed a motion for an interlocutory injunction, seeking to close the store on three grounds.

The county says Tokyo Valentino is currently open without a general business license and without a sexually oriented business license, and is operating an adult business “in a zone where it is not allowed.”

Bergthold said in his motion that Tokyo Valentino has not applied for a general business license or a sexually oriented business license for 2021, and the current General Commercial category zoning where the store is located does not include and adult business.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted in October to permanently revoke Tokyo Valentino’s business license, a decision that was appealed.

The store has remained open pending that appeal, and in November, days after the county legally sought to close the store, Tokyo Valentino filed a lawsuit against the county in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

During a contentious due-cause hearing, the county argued that the Tokyo Valentino store, which opened in June, was issued a business license in March under false pretenses.

The company that applied for the license, 1290 Clothing Co., LLC, indicated on its application that it would be for a general retail store at 1290 Johnson Ferry Road, in the former Mattress Firm location.

But the county argued that after the store opened as Tokyo Valentino, a vast majority of the inventory consisted of lotions and lubes, sex toys and smoke products not included on the application.

Only 14 percent of the merchandise, mostly adult lingerie, was clothing, according to evidence presented at the due-cause hearing.

Commissioners voted 5-0 to revoke the business license, and Tokyo Valentino’s lawsuit includes each of them, including former chairman Mike Boyce and retired commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, among the defendants.

Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling told East Cobb News through county spokesman Ross Cavitt this week that “the filing speaks for itself,” and declined further comment.

Cavitt said a hearing for the injunction motion has not been scheduled (you can read it here), and it wasn’t clear when that might take place given COVID-19 restrictions that have delayed court proceedings.

“They have filed in federal court, we have filed in Cobb Superior Court where we believe the case belongs, so there will eventually be a determination where the venue should reside,” Cavitt said.

In a dismissal motion filed in Cobb Superior Court Feb. 1, Tokyo Valentino attorney Cary Wiggins said Cobb County “is rather transparently attempting to prevent Tokyo from litigating a pending case in Tokyo’s chosen forum, i.e., federal court.

“And because the County is attempting to punish Tokyo’s exercise of constitutional rights of petition and free speech by tying up its resources and driving up the costs of litigation,” the Cobb court also should “strike the complaint.”

When contacted by East Cobb News for comment this week, Wiggins said in reference to the East Cobb Tokyo Valentino location that “the store is a high-end, couples boutique. It’s a well-run operation, and a good corporate citizen. My client is disappointed that the county is spending a great deal of money trying to shut it down.”

In that Feb. 4 motion, Bergthold asked for an injunction “because Tokyo’s illegal activity is systemic, continual and contrary to governing law.

“Denying injunctive relief,” the motion states, “would appear to ratify Tokyo’s unlawful business practices and embolden them to operate in violation of the law.”

In late May, East Cobb News first reported that a business named 1290 Clothing Co. had received a business license amid concerns that it would become a sex shop instead.

The store didn’t need rezoning as a clothing retail business to open in the general commercial (GC) category under the Cobb County Code.

The Cobb County legal dispute is the latest for Tokyo Valentino founder Michael Morrison, who has taken several metro Atlanta jurisdictions to court over his adult retail businesses.

Bergthold, who has been hired by local governments across the country in seeking to restrict adult businesses, also was retained by the county as it overhauled Cobb’s adult business code last fall.

He has served as the attorney for the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven and Doraville in their attempts to shut down Morrison’s stores.

In December, the libertarian magazine Reason profiled Morrison in a story with the headline “The Atlanta Sex Toy Magnate Who Can’t Stop Picking Fights,” and interviewed him at the East Cobb Tokyo Valentino store.

He said choosing the location across the street from Merchants Walk and Whole Foods was intentional: “‘We like to be by organic grocery stores,’ he says. That means the shoppers in the area have ‘expendable income’ and are ‘liberal and more educated.'”

But there was plenty of community opposition voiced against Tokyo Valentino by East Cobb residents, who said the store’s proximity to Mt. Bethel Elementary School and Johnson Ferry Baptist Church is inappropriate.

East Cobb resident Daniel White, who started an online petition last summer against Tokyo Valentino, e-mailed East Cobb News on Feb. 4, when the county’s latest motion was filed.

He said he had not received a response from Ott’s successor, newly elected commissioner Jerica Richardson, and urged other residents to contact her as the case goes through the courts.

“While the order has been to shut this location down, of course the owner has appealed. It is the same strategy used in other counties and with their other locations,” White said. “Legal troubles are not uncommon for this owner. Nor are the legal stalling techniques. Maybe the community will bore of it. Maybe the news will stop covering it. Maybe the new commissioner will reprioritize it.”

All six of Morrison’s stores remain open, including his original store on Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta. The city has been trying to limit activities there, including the rental of private suites.

Morrison, who opened that store as Inserection in 1998, filed a civil rights lawsuit against Atlanta in 2015, after he had rebranded his business under the Tokyo Valentino name.

A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the city in 2018. Tokyo Valentino’s federal lawsuit against Cobb is on similar grounds (you can read it here).

Among the chief claims of that suit is that Cobb revised the adult business code specifically to put Tokyo Valentino out of business.

The other Tokyo Valentino stores are retail-only, including the Johnson Ferry Road store, Morrison’s first business in unincorporated Cobb County.

The Marietta City Council voted to shut down a Tokyo Valentino store on Cobb Parkway last summer for 180 days, claiming the store inventory didn’t match what was on its business license application.

Tokyo Valentino also has filed a federal lawsuit against Marietta on First Amendment grounds.

In the Reason interview, Morrison discussed his ongoing legal issues with metro Atlanta jurisdictions, including Brookhaven, which has tried to close his Stardust adult store for several years, claiming he’s lied about the intent of his business there.

“We’ll get this thing rectified,” Morrison told the magazine. “At the end of the day, [Brookhaven] will have spent a million dollars to fight something where ultimately they lost.”

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Grand jury clears Cobb officer in deadly shooting of black teen

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Cobb grand jury clears officer
“As an African-American, you hate to see an African-American shot down,” Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady said Thursday. “But the fact is we have to follow the law.”

Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady said Thursday he will not prosecute a Cobb Police officer who fatally shot a black teenager last summer after a grand jury declined to return an indictment.

Broady said at a press conference at the Cobb Police Training Academy in Austell that as far as he is concerned, the case involving the officer who shot and killed Vincent Truitt, 17, last July 13 after a traffic chase, is closed.

Broady’s remarks came after the grand jury deliberated all day Thursday to review police reports from the officers and video camera footage taken from police vehicles and body and surveillance cameras.

A video from one of the pursuing police cars was shown during the press conference, including the shooting of Truitt. He was a passenger in a car that was suspected of being stolen, and whose driver took police on a high-speed chase in South Cobb, and ultimately behind an industrial building off Riverside Parkway.

The death was ruled a homicide by the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office, and after a probe by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation—which investigates all officer-involved shootings—the case was turned over to the Cobb DA’s office.

Truitt’s family said earlier this month it is planning a $50 million lawsuit against Cobb Police, alleging he was running away from police and wasn’t armed.

They also have been asking for months for the release of camera footage of the shooting, accused former DA Joyette Holmes of not properly investigating the case and demanded the resignation of Cobb Police Chief Tim Cox.

Broady and deputy chief assistant DA Jason Salibi said the footage seen by the grand jury on Thursday clearly showed Truitt brandishing a weapon. He suffered two gunshot wounds and died 12 hours later at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Broady said the unnamed officer followed all proper departmental procedures for use-of-force as well as state law.

“As an African-American, you hate to see an African-American shot down,” Broady said. “But the fact is we have to follow the law. And the law says the officer is within his rights.

“If you see the the video, you see plenty of places where that young man could have hid and presented an opportunity to ambush the officer or the officers who were chasing the other assailant.”

Salibi said Truitt’s family was called to the Cobb court chambers Thursday and briefed in a separate room about the grand jury proceedings, including the decision not to indict.

Broady said footage that wasn’t shown to the grand jury, out of deference for Truitt’s family, was when a wounded Truitt asked police why he had been shot.

“Because you had a gun,” Broady quoted the police officer as saying.

Salibi said that in the aftermath of the shooting, police rendered aid to Truitt, who lived in Fulton County.

The week before he defeated Holmes in the November elections, Broady appeared with Truitt’s family at a Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting that involved a group called Movement 4 Black Lives.

According to the Cobb County Courier, Truitt’s family’s attorney has been critical of Broady since he took office, and said that they “will be presenting Truitt’s case to the United Nations as an example of the ‘police brutality epidemic’ in the United States.”

Broady said Thursday that although the officer was never charged with a crime, the grand jury was presented evidence as though it were a criminal case, as part of a policy of his office to have a grand jury review any officer-involved shooting.

When asked what message he may have for those in the community still troubled by the shooting, Broady said that “we cannot let emotions dictate how we see things, that we have to look at the facts.”

Quoting Malcolm X, Broady said, “I am for justice, no matter who it’s for or who it’s against. It’s my job as district attorney that I look out for everybody. Not just for the victims but also the offenders, to make sure that they get a fair hearing based on the evidence, and that’s what we did today.”

At a later media briefing, Cox said that “I recognize that the loss of life is tragic. I pray for that family every day.”

He said that the police officer who shot Truitt has been under heavy stress, “and I pray for that officer” as well.

 

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Cobb Chief Magistrate Court judge provides evictions update

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Brendan Murphy, Cobb Chief Magistrate Judge

On Friday Brendan Murphy, the Chief Magistrate Court Judge for Cobb County, provided the following update on the evictions process:

You, your case, and everyone’s good health matter to the Magistrate Court!  #MaskUpCobb

This is not intended to be used as legal advice. Please consult an attorney for legal advice about your individual case.

Here’s a summary of what’s new:

(1) The CDC has extended its limited, temporary halt in certain residential evictions until “at least March 31, 2021.”

(2) The Cobb County Board of Commissioners has appropriated CARES Act rental assistance funding to three (3) additional non-profit organizations, bringing the program to five total providers. The Center for Family Resources, MUST Ministries, and Sweetwater Mission join Star-C and HomeFree-USA’s Cobb County HomeSaver for Renters Program.

(3) After pausing all dispossessory hearings since December 11, 2020, the Magistrate Court will resume limited hearings on February 19, 2021. A hearing may be set down on the basis of a written request for emergency reason(s) including but not limited to physical violence, threats, criminal activity, other safety issues, and/or property destruction.  If the landlord has received a CDC Declaration in a residential, nonpayment of rent case, no hearing may be set.

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Cobb DA’s office supports new expungement help desk for courts

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Submitted information:Cobb courts expungement desk

Cobb District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. is proud to announce his support of a new Expungement Help Desk, in partnership with the Georgia Justice Project and other Cobb County offices and departments.

The Expungement Desk is expected to be established later this year and housed in the Circuit Defender’s Office. Lawyers and volunteers trained by the nonprofit Georgia Justice Project will assist eligible individuals in getting their criminal records expunged as Georgia law allows. Cobb’s Expungement Desk will be the first of its kind in Georgia.

“This is justice in action,” DA Broady said. “Removing barriers that keep nonviolent people from being productive members of society benefits everyone.”

Georgia’s “Second Chance Law,” SB 288, took effect Jan. 1 and expands eligibility for expungement, also known as record restriction, to include many nonviolent misdemeanor convictions. Georgia law has long allowed records of misdemeanor and felony arrests that did not result in convictions to be expunged. The new law also allows for expungement of some pardoned felony convictions.

“Georgia Justice Project helps many Georgians each year with their criminal record, but we can’t do this work alone, and we do so with strong partnership support,” says Doug Ammar, Executive Director of Georgia Justice Project. “Since 4.3 million people have a Georgia criminal history, we need to find creative ways to collaborate with our local institutions to serve as many Georgians as possible. We appreciate District Attorney Broady for joining us in this effort.”

Cobb Solicitor General Barry E. Morgan added that the service provided by the Georgia Justice Project is needed.

“Prosecutors and court clerks cannot give legal advice, and many people are in limbo if they can’t afford to pay an attorney to navigate the additional, cumbersome process required for record restriction,” Morgan said. “This service will help fill a gaping hole.”

The Cobb Circuit Defender’s Office, led by Randy Harris, is also a partner on the Expungement Desk.

Georgia Justice Project has served Georgians who have been impacted by the criminal justice system for almost 35 years. Learn more at www.GJP.org.

 

 

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New Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady takes office

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Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady

 

If you’re looking for Cobb DA Flynn Broady’s statement on the Arbery murder convictions, please click here.

ORIGINAL POST:

Submitted information and photo:

Flynn D. Broady Jr., an Army combat veteran and prosecutor, has taken office as District Attorney of the Cobb Judicial Circuit with a vow to hold violent criminals accountable while restoring nonviolent offenders to productive lives. DA Broady was elected to the position in November 2020. Prior to his election, DA Broady was a prosecutor in the Cobb Solicitor General’s Office and served as the prosecutor for Cobb State Court’s DUI Court, the court’s only accountability court. He also was previously employed and served as coordinator of the Cobb Superior Court’s Veterans Treatment and Accountability Court.

As a veteran, DA Broady understands and is committed to the need for law and order. “People who are dangerous will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. However, as a proponent of the benefit of accountability courts, he believes those nonviolent offenders, especially those with substance-abuse problems and mental-health issues, need to have rehabilitative options alternatives other than incarceration.

“There are people caught up in our criminal justice system who can be, and who want to be, rehabilitated,” Broady said. “In a lot of cases, locking a nonviolent individual away and saddling them with a criminal history is more punishing to the community at large — by consuming taxpayer dollars, destabilizing families, and in other ways. When we can, we need to do better.” He believes wider community engagement, including expanded access to accountability courts and more visible victim advocacy, are essential to that effort.

DA Broady plans to concentrate on restorative justice and community engagement projects such as regular record restriction (expungement) events, a citizen’s DA Academy, school literacy programs, and community mental health crisis training.

As one of his first restorative justice initiatives, DA Broady has organized a ‘New Year, New Start’ event for some former graduates of Cobb’s Veterans Court the week of the Martin Luther King holiday. Due to Covid, attendance will be restricted and media who wish to attend should email Inv. Kim Isaza, Public Information Officer, in advance.

DA Broady is a native of Birmingham. He spent more than two decades in the Army as an instructor, a recruiter and a combat infantryman serving in Operation Iraqi Freedoms, in Anbar Province. He earned his law degree at Seton Hall University, where he also led ROTC. Flynn and his wife reside in Marietta. Flynn’s daughter is a graduate of Armstrong State University and resides in Savannah.

In November, Broady defeated Joyette Holmes, a Republican appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, and will serve the remaining two years of the term of former Cobb DA Vic Reynolds, who is now the head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

 

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Cobb gets federal grant to establish a Family Justice Center

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Submitted information:Cobb Family Justice Center, Ga. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announces that her office and its partners have been awarded a four-year grant worth up to $400,000 to create a Family Justice Center, where victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse can receive services in a single location.

“It is exciting that Cobb County has such great collaboration and support among victim-service providers, law enforcement and county government that we were successful in seeking out this opportunity,” DA Holmes said. “The partnering agencies are committed to the establishment of a Family Justice Center for our community so that we can serve the victim where they are rather than the victim having to seek services where the agencies are located. This streamlining of services will provide a safe place for victims and survivors to go to receive wrap-around and holistic services. I am devoted to leading in the planning, implementation, and ongoing partnership to build a Family Justice Center for Cobb County.”

Partners include LiveSAFE Resources, SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc., along with Cobb County Government, the Cobb Sheriff’s Office and Police Department, the Solicitor General’s Office, and Legal Aid of Cobb County. Partnering agencies and offices will have the opportunity to house representatives in the new center to serve victims.

Tracey B. Atwater is the Executive Director of LiveSAFE Resources.

“Too often, those seeking help after victimization must visit various service providers and agencies in order to get the assistance they need. This incredible new project will allow us and our community partners to better serve those in need by creating a collocated space, reducing barriers for victims seeking help,” she said.

Jinger Robins, Chief Executive Officer of SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc., also welcomed the project.

“What a great day for Cobb County citizens! The successful award from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council of funding for a Family Justice Center will serve all citizens in Cobb County and further ensure victims of crime are able to have the best access to all the services they deserve. SafePath is honored to be one of the partnering agencies as we work collaboratively to connect victims to services as they heal,” Robins said.

The grant is administered through Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council with federal dollars from the Victims of Crime Act. Only two other Georgia communities, Waycross and Macon, were awarded grants to create family justice centers. Savannah has the only existing center in Georgia.

The family justice center model has been identified as a best practice in the intervention and prevention of domestic violence by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. Documented and published outcomes include reduced homicides, increased victim safety and empowerment, reduced fear and anxiety for victims and their children, and reduced recantation by victims receiving this level of support.

Agencies that provided support for Cobb’s center in the application process include Center for Family Resources; Cobb Collaborative; the Division of Family and Children’s Services; Kennesaw State University’s WellStar College of Health and Human Services; police departments of Acworth, Kennesaw and Smyrna; the Georgia Commission on Family Violence; and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia.

Planning and establishing the center will require significant community buy-in. Cobb’s leaders are planning a virtual community meeting in early December to begin discussions.

 

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East Cobb resident named full-time Cobb Magistrate Court Judge

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Michael McLaughlin has been a part-time magistrate judge in Cobb County since 1985 while continuing a private law practice.Judge Michael McLaughlin, Cobb Magistrate Court

On Friday it was announced that he was one of two new full-time judges to the Cobb Magistrate Court. The other is Sonja Brown, a Kennesaw resident who has been a deputy chief assistant district attorney in DeKalb County.

They are replacing Kellie Hill, recently elected to Cobb Superior Court Judge, and Gerald Moore, who is retiring.

McLaughlin has lived in East Cobb for 30 years, and his new post begins in January. He was chosen after an open application and interview process and his appointment by Chief Magistrate Brendan Murphy was confirmed unanimously by Cobb Superior Court judges.

Here’s what Murphy said about McLaughin in a release issued by Cobb County government:

“Judge McLaughlin has been an important part of the Court’s firm foundation, and Judge-designate Brown’s experience will bring a fresh perspective to ensuring access to justice at the People’s Court. This is the hard-working and caring team our community needs, especially during this difficult time of pandemic and economic disruption.” 

The Magistrate Court, commonly referred to as “the people’s court,” is open 24/7/365 and hears small claims matters, evictions, weddings and various pretrial court proceedings, including criminal arraignments and bond hearings.

McLaughlin is the longest-serving part-time magistrate judge in Cobb, and has worked under six chief magistrates. He is a member of the Cobb County Bar Association and the Council of Magistrate Court Judges. He has taught other judges through the Institute of Continuing Judicial Education and aspiring paralegals at Kennesaw State University.

He is a graduate of Florida State University and the John Marshall College of Law.

“To be able to serve as a full-time judge is truly the pinnacle of my legal career. I so appreciate Judge Murphy’s confidence in allowing me to serve in this capacity.”

McLaughlin and his wife Michelle have two grown children and attend Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and the Catholic Church of St. Ann.

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Cobb DA requests independent probe of jail inmate deaths

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Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes

Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes said Wednesday she will request an independent investigation into the recent deaths of Cobb jail inmates.

Holmes’ office issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying she intends to ask the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia to conduct the probe, following a federal lawsuit filed last week by the family of Kevil Wingo.

He was being held at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on a drug possession charge in September 2019, and died in custody after begging for medical help from jail staff.

Wingo’s family, through attorney Timothy Gardner, had asked for an independent investigation, and here’s what Holmes said in response:

“The files that Mr. Gardner obtained through open records requests to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office were submitted to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, media, and other organizations. Those materials should be a part of an independent investigation into Mr. Wingo’s death and other inmate deaths at the jail. As I have previously stated, I am committed to ensuring that matters of public safety and the concerns of our citizens be addressed by our office or referred to the appropriate agency without favor or fear.”

Wingo, who was 36 at the time of his death, had complained of an ulcer and said he was having trouble breathing. According to the lawsuit, he was taken to an isolation room at the jail, and died an hour later after being taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.

In February, the Cobb Medical Examiner’s Office issued a report saying Wingo died of natural causes, with complications due to a perforated gastric ulcer.

Wingo is one of eight inmates to have died at Cobb jail since June of last year. According to 11Alive, his death wasn’t made public until the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, which oversees jail operations, completed an internal investigation.

The Wingo family lawsuit was filed against Wellstar Health system, six nurses and three sheriff’s deputies.

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Cobb courthouse COVID-19 cases prompt new judicial orders

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Cobb Superior Court, Cobb judicial emergency

After several employees of various Cobb courts tested positive for COVID-19, Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Reuben Green has issued new orders regarding court operations.

In an order issued on Friday, Green said that four Cobb Superior Court employees, two in Juvenile Court Court, and one each in State Court, Probate Court and Magistrate Court have tested positive for the virus.

Green said there’s no information that any of them were exposed at work, but they are required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Infected employees must test negative before they are allowed to return to work, and contact tracing has taken place to inform those who may have been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for the virus.

In addition, Green said the work areas where those employees work are being deep cleaned, and that the Superior Courthouse is being disinfected this weekend.

In his order (you can read it here) Green said Probate Court and Superior Court operations “will shift back to a general presumption that all cases should be handled virtually via videoconference.”

Anyone who thinks a case needs to be heard in person, Green said, should contact the assigned judge’s chambers.

Green has issued guidelines on what he deems non-essential court matters, and

All persons entering Cobb courthouse buildings are required to undergo temperature checks and must wear masks, and social distancing guidelines are in effect.

Earlier this week a state judicial emergency that was to have expired on Sunday was extended for another month, to Aug. 11. Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton’s order continues a prohibition on jury trial proceedings and most grand jury proceedings and issues guidelines for in-person and remote proceedings that are taking place.

Friday’s extension was the fourth since COVID-19 closures began, and the new deadline coincides with a continuing state public health emergency that was extended last month by Gov. Brian Kemp.

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Fred Tokars dies in prison; convicted of plotting wife’s 1992 murder

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The convicted mastermind of a notorious murder case in East Cobb nearly three decades ago has died in prison, according to a published report.Fred Tokars dies

Fred Tokars, an attorney convicted of conspiring to kill his wife, Sara Tokars in 1992, died in a federal prison in Pennsylvania last week, according to a story published Wednesday at Law.com.

The report said the cause of death was not specified, and said Tokars’ attorney had been told his client had developed a fever and had been hospitalized.

In 1997, Tokars was convicted of plotting to kill his wife and was sentenced to life without parole for that and other crimes. According to trial testimony, Tokars planned the murder because she had become aware of her husband’s business dealings that involved laundering drug money and racketeering.

Sara Tokars was 39 years old on Nov. 29, 1992, when she and her sons, then ages 4 and 6, returned to their home in the Kings Cove neighborhood after visiting her relatives in Florida.

Before they could enter the house, a gunman forced his way into their vehicle and kidnapped the Tokars family, ordering Sara Tokars to drive out onto a residential street. After she pulled over, she was shot in the head, her boys witnessing in the back seat.

The killing was initially investigated a possible robbery gone wrong.

Curtis Rower, the gunman, and Eddie Lawrence, a real estate developer who had done some business with Tokars, later were indicted for the murder and identified Tokars as orchestrating the scheme to have her killed.

Because of pretrial publicity, Tokars’ murder trial was moved to LaFayette, Ga. A former prosector, he was an acclaimed defense attorney in the metro Atlanta area, and frequently appeared in television commercials advertising his services.

The murder gained nationwide attention and tabloid fare, and was the subject of an episode of the cable program “City Confidential” entitled “Devil Down in Georgia,” which aired in 2002 and was narrated by the late actor Paul Winfield.

During the trial, testimony was revealed that Sara Tokars was seeking a divorce and had information that would have incriminated him on money-laundering activities. In 1994, Tokars was sentenced to life without parole after being convicted on federal racketeering charges.

Rower was later convicted and got life without parole, and after a mistrial, Lawrence pleaded guilty to his role in the killing and served 12 years for testifying against Rower and Tokars.

In more recent years, Tokars had been placed in witness-protection inside the federal prison system and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

R. Robin McDonald, who wrote the story of Tokars’ death for Law.com, covered his murder trial for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and wrote a book about the case, “Secrets Never Lie,” that was published in 1998.

In her story Wednesday, McDonald said Sara Tokars’ sisters issued a statement saying Fred Tokars “should have died in the electric chair 28 years ago.”

While in prison, Tokars helped federal authorities solve six murders, according to his attorney.

The Tokars sons were raised by Sara Tokars’ family in Florida. Last month, Michael Tokars, an aspiring writer who had gone through health and other issues, died of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 31. He was four years old when his mother was killed.

 

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Cobb DA appointed to prosecute Brunswick murder case

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Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes has accepted an appointment by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to take over the prosecution of a father and son charged with the murder of a Brunswick man in February.

Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes

The shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man jogging in a neighborhood near Brunswick, has galvanized nationwide attention since video of the incident was made public.

In a release issued by the DA’s office Monday, Holmes said that “the call to serve will not be taken lightly.”

Last week the Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael with aggravated assault and murder.

The GBI, headed by former Cobb DA Vic Reynolds, took over the investigation after the Glynn County prosecutor recused herself because Gregory McMichael worked as an investigator in that office.

“Our office will immediately gather all materials related to the investigation thus far and continue to seek additional information to move this case forward,” Holmes said in a statement issued by her office. “We appreciate the confidence that Attorney General Carr has in our office’s ability to bring to light the justice that this case deserves.”

The release said her office has been given investigative files by the GBI, as well as “all facts and circumstances” stemming from the Feb. 23 shooting. All of that information “will be reviewed and all appropriate charges under Georgia law will be presented to a Glynn County Grand Jury for indictment,” the Cobb DA’s office statement said.

According to the video of the incident, Arbery, 25, was jogging in a neighborhood in Satilla Shores, outside of Brunswick, when two white men confronted and blocked him on the street. The video—taken by another man, a neighbor of the McMichaels who was trailing Arbery in a vehicle—then shows Arbery being shot.

No charges were brought by local law enforcement and no arrests were made, even after the video surfaced in late April. The GBI was asked to get involved last week, and on Thursday the McMichaels were arrested.

A Glynn County commissioner is alleging that Glynn DA Jackie Johnson stopped police from arresting the McMichaels, but the prosecutor denies those claims.

Holmes, a former Cobb Chief Magistrate judge, was appointed Cobb District Attorney by Gov. Brian Kemp in July 2019, after Reynolds resigned to become GBI director.

 

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Cobb declares judicial emergency; trials suspended 30 days

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Cobb Superior Court, Cobb judicial emergency

A judicial emergency was declared to suspend jury trials in Cobb for 30 days, starting Friday, by Reuben Green, Chief Judge of the Cobb Superior Court, in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.

His order, which was handed down late Friday afternoon, applies to all jury trials in Superior Court and Cobb State Court.

That means jurors called for jury duty do not have to appear and that “only parties, attorneys and necessary witnesses should appear for hearings that are going forward.”

Court and legal proceedings deemed to be essential will be going on, and they are detailed in his order (You can read it here).

Jury weeks for the rest of March and all of April have been cancelled.

Green wrote in his order that while “the court will remain open for the public, they are encouraged to stay home.”

Anyone making a court appearance is asked to leave behind “non-essential people” to that proceeding, including family members, children “and, especially the elderly.”

Green also wrote that inmates at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center summoned to appear in court “will not be transported unless specifically requested by the Judge’s chambers, District Attorney, or Defense Attorney.”

Green wrote that anyone who doesn’t feel well should not come to court, and that parties involved in any case should contact the appropriate judge’s office to get an excused absence.

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Cobb assistant DA to run for open Superior Court judge post

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East Cobb resident Jason Marbutt, a prosecutor in the Cobb District Attorney’s office, said Tuesday he is running for a vacant seat on the Cobb Superior Court.Jason Marbutt, Cobb senior assistant DA

Marbutt, who previously announced his candidacy for Cobb State Court, said in a release issued late Tuesday afternoon that he would campaign instead for the position that has been held by Stephen Schuster since 2005.

Schuster announced his retirement from the bench earlier this week.

“As a career prosecutor and Chairman of the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force, I believe my experience in protecting our most vulnerable citizens, our mothers and fathers, and our grandmothers and grandfathers, is best suited for the Superior Court bench,” Marbutt said in a statement.

Superior Court judges preside over violent crimes and other felony cases. Judgeships are non-partisan and elections are held every four years.

Schuster is the second Cobb Superior Court Judge to step down this year, along with Lark Ingram, who is retiring after serving since November 1995.

Cobb has 10 Superior Court judges. Other sitting judges up for re-election this year include Chief Judge Reuben Green and judges Kim Childs, Greg Poole, Mary Staley and Tain Kell.

Qualifying for those and other candidates in Cobb and across Georgia is from March 2-6.

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Cobb rape cases from 1999 solved via advanced genetic testing

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The Cobb District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday it’s been able to close three cold case rape files dating from 1999 using advanced genetic genealogy testing.Lorinzo Novoa Williams, Cobb rape cases solved

But the man identified by Cobb investigators as the suspect died in December, shortly after they took DNA samples from him in Arkansas, where he lived.

Lorinzo Novoa Williams, who was 48, went missing after Cobb investigators, with help from Arkansas law enforcement, executed a search warrant to collect his DNA samples, according to Cobb DA’s office public information officer Kim Isaza.

She said that after they returned home, Cobb investigators were told by their Arkansas counterparts that Williams was later found dead.

Isaza said the rapes took place within a three-mile radius in southeast Cobb between June and October 1999. In each case, the attacks took place during pre-dawn hours, with each woman waking up to find an unknown man standing over her.

She said each victim reported her attack to police, which took a rape kit, and that the DNA profile in all three cases was identical, meaning they were assaulted by the same man.

But the profile didn’t match an offender in the CODIS combined DNA index system at the time, according to Isaza.

Cobb Senior Assistant DA Theresa Schiefer began looking at the cases again in 2018 at the request of a cold case unit, and secured a $10,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance to retest the rape kits with advanced technology, Isaza said.

Early last year, the profile was submitted to a private lab that constructed a genetic tree of the suspect, she said.

From there, the Cobb DA’s office sexual assault investigating unit and its cold case unit discovered the suspect lived in metro Atlanta at the time of the 1999 rapes. He had been arrested on peeping tom, indecent exposure and burglary charges in Cobb and Gwinnett, also during that time.

Isaza said that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Forensic Biology Section determined that the DNA collected from Williams matched the profile of the 1999 rape kits.

Isaza said Schiefer spoke to each of the rape victims after the match was confirmed.

“I feel very fortunate that we could provide some answers to these women after all this time. We want anyone who has experienced sexual assault to know that we will continue to work their cases in hopes that their turn will come, too,” Schiefer said.

According to his obituary, Williams worked for a construction company in Hampton, Ark., and was married with four children. He and his wife became Jehovah’s Witnesses in Macon in 2003.

 

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Man gets 20 years for choking woman at her East Cobb home

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A man who was convicted of choking the mother of his baby at her East Cobb home last year has been given a 22-year prison sentence, with 20 to serve.Derek Burns, East Cobb woman choked

Derek James Burns, 29, of Carrollton, was sentenced Monday by Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs, after a jury convicted him last week of aggravated assault (strangulation), false imprisonment, simple battery and simple assault.

According to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, Burns, who has been in jail since the April 2018 incident, will get credit for time served.

Prosecutors said at the trial that Burns and the victim were arguing at her home on Bradford Lane, off Barnes Mill Road, on April 19, 2018. According to testimony, Burns put the woman in a chokehold until she lost conscious and control of her bladder.

Prosectors said the woman realized after she regained consciousness that she had been dragged across the floor and placed in a corner, and said that Burns threatened to shoot her if she looked up or raised her head until he was gone, and would “make it look like a suicide.”

Also testifying at the trial was a former girlfriend of Burns, who said he had choked her, also rendering her unconscious, when they were dating.

Grubbs, who said Burns was “vicious and harmful,” also ordered him to serve the final two years of his term on probation.

 

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Murder indictment against East Cobb couple’s accused killer thrown out

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A South Georgia man indicted for killing an East Cobb couple in 2015 has had the dismissal of his murder indictment upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.Elrey and June Runion, murdered East Cobb couple

By a 7-2 vote, the state’s high court agreed with a lower-court ruling that a Telfair County grand jury that indicted Ronnie Adrian Towns was unlawfully constituted because “some of the grand jurors were not selected randomly.”

The ruling was announced on Monday.

(You can read the entire court ruling here.)

Towns was charged with the Jan. 2015 murders of Elrey “Bud” Runion, 69, and his wife June, 66, of East Cobb, who had traveled to McRae, Ga., to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang Towns had posted for sale on Craigslist.

After their daughters reported them missing, the bodies of the Runions were found in their car in a pond in Telfair County a few days later. Authorities in that southeast Georgia county said the Runions had both been shot in the head.

Prosecutors alleged that Towns tried to lure the victims with the prospect of buying the car, but intended to rob them.

Towns, who was 28 at the time of the Runions’ deaths, turned himself in, and he was indicted for murder by a grand jury.

According to the Supreme Court ruling, 50 prospective grand jurors were summoned to appear on March 16, 2015, but fewer than 16 showed up on time. The presiding judge ordered some of those who hadn’t appeared to be located by the Telfair sheriff, and asked the court clerk to identify four possible candidates for the grand jury from a list of prospective petit jurors who could show up quickly.

Two of those four reported, and others summoned for the grand jury later also reported, and a grand jury was empaneled on March 16.

That grand jury, with the two originally on the petit juror list, returned a murder indictment against Towns the same day.

Towns filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging the two on the petit juror list were not chosen at random. Towns’ attorney said the clerk telephoned those four individuals, whom she knew personally. In a 2017 ruling, the trial court concurred and dismissed the murder indictment.

Prosecutors appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. The high court majority concluded that while the petit jurors were selected at random from a master jury list, in selecting the two individuals who eventually served on the grand jury, the clerk:

” . . . relied on her personal knowledge of the prospective petit jurors, her own assessment of the extent to which she had the information necessary to contact them, and her estimate of the likelihood that they would be available to report immediately. Those selections were not ‘random’ in any sense of the word.”

The Oconee Circuit District Attorney, which prosecutes cases in Telfair and six other South Georgia counties, is seeking the death penalty against Towns.

The Runions, who lived in the Wendwood subdivision off Holly Springs Road, were married for 38 years. According to their obituary, in 1991 the Runions founded Forever Greatful Ministries, which helps families in need in the Marietta area. He was retired from AT & T and she was a preschool teacher at Johnson Ferry Christian Academy.

They were longtime members of Mt. Paran Church of God North on Allgood Road.

 

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Former business partner of murdered East Cobb man indicted

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A Woodstock man has been indicted for the 2014 murder of an East Cobb man who was his former business partner and roommate.

Jerry Moore, murdered East Cobb man
Jerry Moore

Ross Allyson Byrne, 56, was arrested Aug. 30, 2018 for the killing of Jerry Moore, who lived in a neighborhood off Holly Springs Road.

That was just a few days after Johnathan Wheeler of Stockbridge was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole for the murder of Moore.

Byrne was indicted by a Cobb Superior Court grand jury on Oct. 3 on eight felony counts, including malice murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit a felony and violation of rackeetering laws.

Another count alleges that in March of this year, Byrne asked an individual identified as “J.G.” to have Wheeler killed in exchange for money.

The indictment states that Byrne conspired with Wheeler to commit the murder of Moore, who was found stabbed to death multiple times with a knife in his home at 2808 Gracewood Drive on Jan. 25, 2014.

Byrne had been the owner of Best Dang Bakery Around in Woodstock, and Moore had been an investor, according to testimony presented at Wheeler’s trial.

Byrne lived at Moore’s Gracewood Drive home for seven years, according to the indictment, and each man had a 50 percent ownership stake in the bakery, of around $35,000 each.

By Jan. 2014, Moore wanted out of the business partnership, concerned about Byrne’s spending habits, according to the indictment, which stated that Byrne had moved of the East Cobb home by then.

The indictment alleges that Byrne and Wheeler, a former bakery employee who had served 10 years in prison in Ohio for armed robbery and other offenses, conspired to steal from Moore. The plot, according to the indictment, was to have Wheeler come to Moore’s home and commit assault, burglary and theft.

After Moore was found dead, the indictment states, the plot involved “tampering with evidence and false statements.”

Johnathan Allen Wheeler, East Cobb murder
Johnathan Wheeler

The indictment alleges that Byrne let Wheeler come to his home and shower after the killing, and that Byrne offered Wheeler a clean change of clothes.

According to the indictment, Wheeler confessed to the murder to his cousin, Cynthia Wheeler. She testified at Wheeler’s trial last year that they went back to Moore’s home to stage a crime scene and steal items.

The indictment said Byrne later stole Moore’s partnership interest, helped Cynthia and Johnathan Wheeler pay bills and paid for a trip Byrne and Wheeler took to the Florida Keys and for vehicles for Wheeler.

Byrne was interviewed by police two days after the murder and denied any role, according to the indictment. Wheeler was charged with homicide on Aug. 16, 2014.

In 2016, Cynthia Wheeler was sentenced for concealing a death, burglary and tampering with evidence, and agreed to testify against her cousin.

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Johnathan Wheeler is incarcerated at the Smith State Prison in south Georgia.

 

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Cobb Superior Court judges to get 4-percent county pay raise

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Tom Charron, Cobb Superior Court Administratpr
Tom Charron

Cobb Superior Court judges will be getting the same four-percent merit pay increase as county employees in the new fiscal year 2020 budget that began on Monday.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve the raises, despite objections from two commissioners.

Each of the 10 Superior Court judges, the chief judge and new Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes will receive the raises, which will increase their county salary supplement by $8,323 a year.

Superior Court judges and the DA serve in elected positions and are state constitutional officers, with most of their salaries paid by the state.

A portion of their compensation comes from county supplements, and funding for the raises is provided in the FY 2020 budget.

Commissioners Bob Ott of East Cobb and Keli Gambrill voted against the measure, which passed 3-2 and goes into effect immediately.

The state portion of the four-percent increase is $62,254 per individual, and the request is based on judges’ full salaries.

Ott said he supports pay raises for the county portion of the judges’ salaries, but not on their full salary.

“To me, that’s a state function,” Ott said.

East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she supported the raises, since the county previously has boosted local compensation for the Cobb sheriff, also an elected state constitutional officer, to match other Cobb law enforcement increases.

The state last raised Superior Court and other state judicial salaries in 2015. When HB 279 was enacted, median Superior Court salaries went from around $186,000 a year (with $120,000 being paid by the state) to nearly $200,000 annually.

Superior Court judges handle major felony cases, including violent crimes, drug-trafficking and serious white-collar offenses.

State Court judges preside over misdemeanor and small-claims cases, including DUI, traffic citations and minor civil disputes.

Their salaries are set by and fully paid for by county governments, and in Cobb, State Court judges have a median salary of around $171,000.

They were included in the four-percent merit increase that went to qualified county employees.

Cobb Superior Court Administrator Tom Charron, who made the request at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, said that judges “in courts of lesser jurisdiction” could conceivably earn more than their Superior Court counterparts without the merit raises.

He said Superior Court judges did not get salary increases that came with other state employee raises this year.

In 2014 the Georgia legislature passed a law that allowed Cobb Superior Court judges to get raises at the local level without having to go to state lawmakers every year.

Ott said the issue is no different than with what the county faces with Georgia DOT over funding obligations for maintenance and repair.

He cited as an example Roswell Road, also known as Georgia Highway 120. “They will come and cut the median once every 60 days, but they don’t care what it looks like in between,” Ott said. “Their answer to us is, ‘If you want it to look better, you’re going to have to cut it.’ That’s not our job.

“Yes, Superior Court judges should get a raise, but it should be the state should taking the responsibility for a state constitutional officer. They’re passing down to the citizens of Cobb to have to cover the cost because they’re not willing to give the raise.

“The more the county takes on state responsibilities, the less [the state] is going to be responsible for. . . At some point in time it’s got to stop.”

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said judges shouldn’t caught in the crossfire of haggling over how their salary increases will be paid for. He did say he will take the issue to the Cobb legislative delegation before next year’s session.

“Cobb is a family and judges are part of the family,” Boyce said. “They carry a significant load. We have the resources to do this and we shouldn’t hold the judges back.”

 

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Fugitive Cobb ex-attorney wanted for murder captured in Tenn.

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A disbarred attorney who pleaded guilty earlier this year to defrauding elderly and other clients in Cobb County and who was a fugitive wanted for his mother’s murder was captured over the weekend in Tennessee.

Richard Merritt, who was sentenced in January to 30 years, with 15 to serve, on 34 counts of theft and elder abuse, also is facing murder charges in DeKalb County.

Merritt’s mother was found stabbed and beaten to death on Feb. 2, the day after Merritt was to have turned himself in to begin serving his Cobb prison sentences, according to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Nashville.

That’s where Merritt was spotted and arrested, while shopping at a thrift store, according to published reports. Photographs and footage of his apprehension showed he had grown his hair and beard long.

On Monday he was booked into the Davidson County Jail in Nashville, charged with a felony count of being a fugitive from justice. His bond is $250,000.

The manhunt for Merritt began after police found his mother’s body at her Stone Mountain home. Shirley Merritt’s car was missing and his was parked at the home, according to DeKalb Police.

Police also said at the time that in addition to his failure to surrender himself, Merritt, 44, removed an ankle monitor as part of his sentencing.

Merritt, whose law practice was in Smyrna, was indicted in 2018 on 34 counts of theft by taking, forgery and elder exploitation. According to the indictment, starting in 2015, he settled clients’ cases for such things as accidents and civil disputes without telling them by forging their signatures, then pocketing the settlement checks.

Those ranged between $1,500 and $75,000, according to the indictment. Some of those clients were elderly, prompting the charges of elder exploitation.

He pleaded guilty to all 34 counts, according to Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s records, and was sentenced to serve most of them 10-15 years concurrently. At the sentencing Merritt was ordered to serve 15 years in prison, with the rest on probation if he turned himself in at the Cobb jail on Feb. 1.

Merritt also was ordered to pay than $454,000 in restitution.

On Tuesday, Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes said “that it is a relief to know he is back in custody and I am confident that justice will ultimately prevail.”

She also said that “at some point he will be returned to Cobb for a hearing to revoke his probation.”

 

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