Shared from the 10/10/2016 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution eEdition

JUDICIARY

Northwest Ga. judges tangled in nasty feud

Lookout Mountain circuit dispute centers on new chief judge.

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Judge Kristina Cook Graham, shown at the Chattooga County Courthouse in 2010, is the most senior judge in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.

PHOTOS FROM AJC FILE

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Legendary attorney Bobby Lee Cook has weighed in on the dispute involving his daughter, Kristina Cook Graham.

Judges in northwest Georgia are accusing a colleague of illegally living in Tennessee, being abusive to witnesses and others in her court and of not working very hard.

Judge Kristina Cook Graham is locked in a struggle with the two other judges in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit over who will be the chief judge. Graham’s father, legendary attorney Bobby Lee Cook, has joined the increasingly vitriolic dispute with his own accusations of incompetence, lies and misdeeds worthy of disbarment.

The fight, which spilled into public records last week, is the sort of vicious spat that so often erupts at local courthouses.

Animosities between the combatants go back to the 1990s and have been nurtured over the decades ever since.

“It’s an extremely uncomfortable position for all the attorneys in the circuit to be in the middle of all of this,” said Ringgold lawyer McCracken Poston, who is also the juvenile court judge in the circuit.

Judge Graham was reprimanded six years ago for her behavior on the bench, and her opponents say she’s at it again. Graham did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The simmering feud grew into a full-scale battle when former Chief Judge Jon Wood retired recently. One of his final actions was to file an order naming Graham his successor even though he had promised to stay out of the matter. In his order, Wood noted that the circuit’s practice for years was that the most senior judge in the circuit handled the administrative duties of chief judge; Graham had been on the bench almost a quarter century, Ralph Van Pelt Jr. has been a judge 20 years, and Judge Brian House has served four years.

Last Monday, Van Pelt and House gathered for an unscheduled meeting with Graham to elect a new chief judge to preside in Walker, Dade, Catoosa and Chattooga counties. Van Pelt said he and House voted for Van Pelt — Graham did not participate — but they agreed to hold another vote on chief judge once the governor names Wood’s replacement.

Van Pelt wrote that Graham owned property in Cloudland but is actually living in a Chattanooga townhouse with her husband. “Every time you return to that home you lose your authority as a judge,” Van Pelt wrote.

The state Constitution provides that “all judges shall reside in the geographical area in which they are selected to serve.”

Graham’s father, Cook, responded to that accusation with a mocking letter, noting that the townhouse in Tennessee was used when her doctor husband was on call and that she voted and paid taxes in Chattooga County.

Va n Pe l t d e c l i n e d to respond to Cook’s letter, which was dated Friday.

Some of Van Pelt’s complaints noted in court filings were that Graham rarely kept office hours, took years to rule in cases and “verbally abused” the other judge in the circuit and court workers.

Va n P e l t a n d H o u s e recused themselves from hearing any c ases that involve Bobby Lee Cook or lawyers with his firm. In a letter to Cook, Van Pelt wrote, “I am in receipt of your third party message that if I do not submit to your daughter’s supposed authority, there will be ‘a blood bath.’”

Cook said there was no threat and that the term “blood bath” was used in reference to political rifts in the circuit more than 60 years ago.

In Cook’s 10-page letter to Van Pelt, Cook called the judge incompetent, insulting, inept, a “snitch,” callous and rude. Cook wrote that Van Pelt opposed his daughter becoming chief judge because he “cannot countenance a strong woman.” Cook said Van Pelt’s writings about her were filled with “false assertions,” and he mocked the judge for reportedly traveling with armed guards; “people were laughing at you.”

Van Pelt said he had been speaking with the Judicial Qualifications Commission — though not formally — about Graham’s demeanor in and out of the courtroom since the JQC publicly reprimanded her in 2010 for how she spoke to and treated Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents and local law enforcement officers who testified in a case she was hearing.

“Now that you or aware of this and knowing you, it will be impossible for us to be in the same room together,” Van Pelt wrote.

G B I d i re c to r Ve r n o n Keenan filed a JQC complaint — a six-page letter with another 26 pages of supporting documents — that detailed the judge’s profanity-laced tirades in the courtroom and in her office, some of which were recorded. Keenan wrote that Graham — who at the time was using her first husband’s name, Connelly — seemed to think she was being investigated even though was not.

“Judge Connelly has not been interviewed regarding potential drug activity nor is there any information as of the date of this letter that implicates her in any potential drug activity. It is apparent, however, Judge Connelly does not believe this as evidenced by her actions,” Keenan wrote in the March 12, 2009, letter.

Cook warned Van Pelt that he intends to “proceed in a manner to get your attention.”

He also reminded Van Pelt that he had recommended that former Gov. Zell Miller appoint Van Pelt to the bench. “That was my mistake for which I will be eternally sorry,” Cook wrote.

He closed his letter to Van Pelt with advice.

“Get a good lawyer! Have a nice weekend.”

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