DeKalb DA gets statewide support in fight against judge

Credit: DeKalb County Superior Court

Credit: DeKalb County Superior Court

Parker-Smith, on the bench since the start of 2021, is accused by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission of improperly threatening to jail Boston and two assistant district attorneys in 2023, among other things. The judge faces possible punishment by the Georgia Supreme Court, including removal from office.

On Friday, a fellow DeKalb Superior Court judge, Gregory Adams, denied Boston’s request to recuse Parker-Smith, saying that is not warranted though Boston and her staff are witnesses in the JQC case. Adams said Parker-Smith can stay on more than 400 criminal cases and associated matters involving Boston and her staff, including grand jury proceedings, while the misconduct case is pending.

Now, Boston has hired former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton as a special prosecutor to get the state’s appellate courts to weigh in.

Melton, who recently started a new job at Georgia State University College of Law, filed a motion Wednesday on Boston’s behalf, asking Adams to allow appellate review of his decision to keep Parker-Smith on criminal cases. Melton said it’s an unusual situation that the state’s legal community needs guidance on.

“Certifying this case for review will allow our appellate courts to consider a situation whose rarity is matched only by its gravity,” Melton wrote. “The existing legal framework is a poor fit for these circumstances.”

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

The motion was supported with a written statement signed by 14 district attorneys and 13 solicitors general from around Georgia, including Fani Willis, Brad Smith, Sonya Allen and Shalena Cook Jones, the district attorneys in Fulton, Barrow, Cobb and Chatham counties, respectively.

“We collectively believe this potential disruption is a sacrifice worth making for the good of the judicial system as a whole,” the supporting prosecutors wrote.

Boston said she appreciates Melton taking the lead on her request as well as the prosecutors lending their support.

“They recognize the gravity of this situation and the precedent it sets for courts across the state,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “I hope an appellate court will have an opportunity to review this matter.”

Gabe Banks, the attorney representing Parker-Smith in the JQC case, said Thursday that Boston is driving the dispute “less by a legitimate basis grounded in recusal than by personal animus.”

“It is becoming abundantly clear that Boston is no longer interested in recusal, and each successive filing and public action she takes only reinforces that conclusion,” Banks said in a statement. “Boston’s continued escalation of her personal beef with Parker-Smith masked in a motion to recuse serves neither the administration of justice nor the citizens of DeKalb County, all of whom deserve public officials focused on public safety, the fair administration of justice, and the efficient use of taxpayer resources — not prolonged institutional conflict fueled by a personal vendetta.”

Banks said Adams made the right decision in allowing Parker-Smith to continue handling criminal cases. He said Boston is trying to use political pressure to get her way.

Parker-Smith, who was reelected without an opponent in 2024 to another four-year term, has yet to respond in court to the JQC charges filed last month.

The JQC said Parker-Smith, a former public defender admitted to practice law in Georgia in 2004, violated the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct in several ways. In 2024, she illegally jailed attorney Gerald Griggs, the past president of the Georgia NAACP, for being late to a hearing, the commission alleged.

Parker-Smith is also accused of refusing to return indictments in court in February because a certain sheriff’s corporal was present.

A chance to clear up murky case law

In his motion Wednesday, Melton said the ultimate question for Georgia’s appellate courts is whether a critical witness in formal disciplinary proceedings against a judge must be forced to continue advocating in front of that judge.

Melton, who served on the state Supreme Court for 16 years, said it appears that issue has yet to be considered by Georgia’s top courts. He said Boston’s case could provide “guidance to both courts and prosecutors who find themselves in the difficult position that led to this moment.”

“Georgia’s legal community needs clear guidelines on how to approach this issue,” he said. “Due to no action on their part, the District Attorney and her staff are now placed in the position of having to advocate before Judge Parker-Smith while at the same time being expected to give adverse testimony in relation to high-stakes charges levied against her.”

In their supporting statement, the 27 prosecutors said recusing Parker-Smith from all criminal cases would not be unprecedented. They pointed out that former Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Kathryn Schrader was barred from hearing over 400 criminal cases in 2019 during a GBI investigation involving the county’s district attorney.

“The Gwinnett County bench used a rotation of senior judges to cover her calendars without much delay or disruption,” the prosecutors said.

Parker-Smith is one of nine judges on the court.

The prosecutors said judges should “err on the side of recusal anytime a reasonable observer might sense an appearance of impropriety.”

“Everyone in Georgia and beyond — prosecutors, other attorneys, judges, and the general public – would benefit from rules and guidance for how to proceed,” the prosecutors wrote.