CHIEF JUDGE FROM BRUNSWICK ACCUSED OF MISCONDUCT

A Brunswick judge who runs the state's largest drug court operation
was accused Wednesday of indefinitely detaining defendants who were
not allowed to have any contact with their family or their lawyers.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission also said in a court filing it
must determine whether Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams gave
false statements, engaged in nepotism and favoritism and used rude,
abusive and insulting language to those who have appeared before her
in court. It also accuses Williams of violating a judicial canon that
prohibited her from "using tyrannical partiality" when administering
her duties.

The civil charges set up a potential high-profile trial pitting
Williams against the judicial commission's designated prosecutors --
former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears and former
state Attorney General Mike Bowers. Both Sears and Bowers are now
private attorneys.

Williams' drug court operation has been under intense scrutiny after
the public-radio show "This American Life" gave her a harsh review in
March. A number of the Judicial Qualifications Commission's charges
include cases profiled during the broadcast.

Williams won her first election to the bench in 1990. She now oversees
drug courts in Glynn, Camden and Wayne counties.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in April,
Williams defended her use of lengthy jail time for her drug court's
participants.

"I didn't just decide I was going to be mean to these people," she
said. "It's all treatment-motivated."

Williams added, "These people aren't sitting in jail forever and ever
and ever and ever. I'm fair. I'm consistent. I do care."

The Judicial Qualifications Commission complaint accuses Williams of
ordering Lindsey Dills, who had a history of attempted suicide, be
placed in indefinite, restrictive detention in the Glynn County jail
on Oct. 8, 2008.

Dills had entered the drug court program in March 2005 after pleading
guilty to forging two of her parents' checks for $100.

When Williams ordered Dills to be jailed indefinitely, this meant that
Dills was "to have NO contact with anyone while she is incarcerated"
and that included no mail, no phone calls and no visitors except for a
drug court counselor, the complaint said, citing jail records.

Williams knew Dills had suicidal tendencies, having previously signed
an order in 2006 placing her on suicide watch while in custody, the
complaint said.

On Dec. 9, 2008, Dills attempted suicide while in solitary and
restrictive confinement, the complaint said.

When asked about whether she had held a defendant in restrictive
custody or solitary confinement, Williams denied it, the complaint
said.

But the complaint also cites an audio recording of Williams' directive
to court officials after she sentenced Dills to indefinite
incarceration: "She is not to have any telephone privileges and no one
is to contact or visit her except [drug court counselor] Gail Kelly!
Nobody! Total restriction!"

Court records indicate that neither Kelly nor Dills' attorney visited
her during the two months she was in custody before she tried to
commit suicide, the complaint said.

Last year, the complaint said, when a juvenile probationer observing
drug court chuckled during the proceedings, Williams began screaming
at the girl and ordered her to be removed from the courtroom in
handcuffs. Later that day, the girl was released from custody, the
charges said.

On another occasion, when a drug court defendant used the term "baby
momma," Williams ordered that man "be summarily jailed," the complaint
said.

The commission's complaint also questions whether Williams violated
another judicial code of conduct that says judges should avoid
nepotism and exercise impartiality. It notes that on a number of
occasions Williams appointed her daughter to serve as a guardian ad
litem in cases before her. She also signed an order prepared by her
daughter-in-law in a case before her, the complaint said. She also
presided over cases in cases defended by a lawyer who was a law
partner with Williams' son, and the two men rented space from Williams
in a building she owns, the commission said.

Since 2008, about 20 judges have resigned from the bench while being
investigated or accused of misconduct. All but one resigned before
standing trial, and the commission has convened just three trials for
accused jurists over the past three decades.

During a trial, the Judicial Qualifications Commission's seven members
- - two judges, three lawyers and two private citizens - sit as a jury
and determine whether misconduct has occurred. It the panel makes such
a finding, it then recommends what discipline should be imposed. The
Georgia Supreme Court then makes a final ruling.