Pubdate: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 Source: Florida Times-Union (FL) Copyright: 2011 The Florida Times-Union Contact: http://www.jacksonville.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/155 Author: Terry Dickson. Walter C. Jones, Bureau Chief, Times-Union Atlanta contributed to this report. STATE JUDICIAL BODY INVESTIGATES GLYNN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE The Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission has informed Glynn County Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams it would proceed with action that could result in her removal from the bench. She is charged with 12 violations of judicial canons including jailing defendants without proper hearings, choosing the judges for cases involving her family members who are lawyers, and having bailiffs handcuff a student who cried in her court, who Williams had admonished for laughing. Williams and her lawyer, Wallace E. Harrell, could not be reached Wednesday night. Wednesday's notice of formal proceedings is similar to a grand jury indictment for judges. Williams, who has 21 years on the bench, has 30 days to file a response. If she contests the charges, she'll go to trial about mid-January. The commission would conduct the trial. The verdict would be filed with the Supreme Court, whose justices will vote on accepting its recommendation and access a punishment, from a reprimand to suspension or even removal from the bench. The first count centers on Lindsey Dills, a defendant in drug court, who Williams ordered into "indefinite restrictive custody" without giving her the right to be heard, the complaint asserts. That action violates a Code of Judicial Conduct requiring that judges give a defendant or the defendant's lawyer "the right to be heard according to law," the complaint says. The complaint says Dills entered the drug court program in March 2005 after pleading guilty to forging two of her parents' checks. After sentencing Dills to 28 days in jail, Williams amended the sentence to indefinite confinement "until further order of the court," the complaint says. Williams also forbade that Dills have visitors, mail or phone calls except for a drug court counselor, the complaint says. On Dec. 9, 2008, Dills attempted suicide while in solitary confinement, but remained on solitary and restrictive confinement 14 more days until her transfer to an inpatient treatment facility, the complaint says. When asked about the assertion, Williams, her lawyer or both denied she had ever ordered any defendant held in restrictive custody, although drug court personnel said she had done so, the complaint says. Among other accusations: Williams sanctioned drug court participant Charlie McCullough with 14 days in jail for exercising his right to contest a drug screen. When drug court defendant Charles Cunningham absconded, Williams issued a bench warrant for his arrest and, after his Nov. 7, 2009, arrest, left him in custody until the summer of 2010, the complaint says. She is accused of showing favoritism in requiring payment to her daughter who was acting as a court-appointed guardian. In one case she ordered the parties to pay her daughter $1,000 within 30 days or be subject to contempt of court. Williams also failed to recuse herself in cases in which her children and husband appeared as lawyers, the complaint says. The complaint lists five cases in which Williams picked the judge to hear cases in which her son, Nathan, or daughter, Frances Dyal, were acting as lawyers. Williams' public endorsement of Jackie Johnson when she ran for district attorney also violated the code of judicial conduct, the complaint says. The first nine counts in the complaint apply to a prohibition on judges "using tyrannical partiality in the administration or under the color of your office," the complaint says. The final count says Williams made material false statements as the Judicial Qualifications Committee investigated complaints made against her. Jeffrey Davis, director of the commission, often invites judges facing allegations to meet privately with the seven-member commission to explain their side. If the commission is considering formal proceedings, he generally shows a draft of the formal notice to the judge to negotiate a resignation instead of a public trial. However, he makes it a policy that the reasons for that resignation will be made public. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.