The Georgia Supreme Court has removed a county probate judge who was recently arrested for allegedly shoving a police officer during an expletive-hitting brawl outside an Atlanta nightclub.
Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson has been removed from her position and barred from holding any judicial office in the state for the next seven years after the Georgia Supreme Court issued a disbarment ruling on Tuesday.
But it wasn’t her highly publicized arrest, caught on body camera, that got her expelled from the bar.
Peterson, 38, committed repeated acts of judicial misconduct during her tenure, the Judicial Qualifications Commission found in an investigation into her conduct.
The embattled judge, who was elected and sworn in in December 2020, was at one point facing as many as 50 charges of misconduct, the first of which was filed less than a year into her four-year term. Twenty of the charges were dismissed, and the remaining 30 were investigated by a hearing committee.
In its March report, the commission found clear and convincing evidence that Peterson was guilty of 28 of the 30 charges and concluded that he should be removed from his bench.
The high court agreed, finding that Peterson had demonstrated “flagrant disregard for the law, the Rules of Court and the Rules of Judicial Conduct” and had “repeatedly violated the Rules of Judicial Conduct.”
In one “very concerning” violation, Judge Peterson found a woman in criminal contempt after she asked him to correct an error on her marriage certificate, and sentenced her to up to 20 days in jail and a fine “without explanation or justification,” the panel found.
She was also accused of allowing unauthorized people into the county courthouse after hours without proper screening and using taxpayer money to have sheriff’s deputies work overtime on her behalf, according to the court filing.
Peterson’s inappropriate behavior extended outside of the courtroom: She was accused of engaging in “hostile interactions” with neighbors at homeowners’ association meetings while suing the association.
In its decision, the state Supreme Court said her repeated behavior “failed to demonstrate the decorum and temperament expected of a judge.”
The Georgia Supreme Court did not consider Peterson’s Thursday virus arrest in its ruling because it was not part of the investigation, but the allegations against her only serve to further tarnish her reputation.
Judge was charged with simple assault on a police officer and obstructing a law enforcement officer after stabbing an off-duty Atlanta police officer twice in the chest outside the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge.
Police said Peterson interfered with officers trying to defuse the situation as security guards were escorting the woman out of the club. During the altercation at 3 a.m., Peterson is accused of waving an officer’s hand away from the woman and pushing her twice in the chest, according to police.
“Let her go, let her go,” Peterson is heard yelling at security and officers, according to video released by Atlanta police and obtained by local media.
The judge was quickly handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car, where he yelled expletives and refused to give the officers his name.
Peterson’s lawyer said she was simply trying to help a woman who had been attacked by a man outside the club and did not intend to shove the officers. Two witnesses, including the alleged victim, corroborated her account at a press conference Friday.
“He violently attacked me, punched me in the face, and the only person who came to my aid was Judge Peterson,” she said.
Peterson’s attorney, Marvin Arrington Jr., argued that she was just being a good Samaritan.
“As the investigation continues and more facts come to light, we believe Judge Christina Peterson will be completely exonerated of these charges,” her lawyer, Marvin Arrington Jr., said at a news conference.
