Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Judge and Public Defender Dashboard Romance

A Fayette County Judge is reported to have been caught on a deputy's dashboard cam having sex in a parking lot with a local public defender who had 225 cases in his room according to a report at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  This is from Alexis Stevens' story:

"Chief Superior Court Judge Paschal English (pic) and Kim Cornwell, an assistant public defender, were caught having sex in a parked car in October 2008, according to documents released Friday by District Attorney Scott Ballard.  A Fayette sheriff's deputy recognized English, and later learned that Cornwell was a public defender, Ballard said. The deputy's dashboard camcorder recorded part of the incident, but that video is no longer available, according to Sheriff Wayne Hannah. No charges were filed after the incident."
______________________
This is the sort of story that is kind of sad.  But there is NO evidence that the Judge involved ever acted improperly in court relating to the cases presented by Ms. Cornwell.  Separately Judge English, who appeared on episodes of the televison show, Survivor, resigned after it came to light that he had ignored in his role as presideing judge--sexual harassment claims of an attorney against another Fayette Superior Court Judge. 

Clearly, the Judge had failed the appearance of impropriety test.  By his actions, he seems to acknowledge this fact.  The damage to the citizens of Fayette County will relate to criminal cases which appeared to have been resolved but are now subject ot challenge based on this undisclosed relationship.  Look for motions, voided convictions, pleas and sentencing.

The Bad Lawyer might have been smirking like-crazy over this story a few months ago, but I'm learning that there is a world of difference between being righteous and self-righteous.  We are all human beings; we make mistakes, usually in response to our egos.  I do, I have. 

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you - people make mistakes and sometimes it's just called being human. I think that Paschal English is a good and decent man that fell to temptation. That's all there was to it.....the power of lust.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure this caused major problems within their family, especially the children that had to hear about it. They are human and we have all sinned and we should be forgiven and move forward. I can't help but wonder if this was a deciding factor in divorce proceedings or if decided on an open marriage. Guess it's cheaper to stay married and try to put it behind you.

    ReplyDelete