A Georgia judge who was investigated for judicial misconduct was arrested at a Buckhead nightclub early Thursday.
Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson is charged with hitting a police officer and using threats or violence against a police officer, according to Fulton County Jail records.
Atlanta Police responding to a 911 call at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge found a woman crying in the valet area.
When an officer approached the crying woman, Peterson allegedly struck the officer “with a closed fist.”
But Peterson’s attorney, Marvin Arrington Jr, said the arrest and charges weren’t justified because she was trying to help a woman who was being attacked by a man.
“The judge did nothing more than try to help. The fiancé of the judge’s friend and another person are all eyewitnesses that will confirm what both the young lady who was being assaulted said and what her friend said, that the judge had nothing to do and they let the young man who was assaulting the lady go” Arrington Jr. said.
The two witnesses confirmed Arrington Jr.’s account to 11Alive News.
“I mean I’m getting emotional because I don’t want to see her get in trouble,” Madison Shannon Kelly said.
She says the judge was a peacemaker…and shouldn’t face charges.
However, a hearing panel investigating 50 ethics complaints against Peterson recommended she be removed from the bench earlier this year.
The three-member panel for the Judicial Qualifications Commission ruled Peterson is guilty of “systemic incompetence” because she ignored courthouse rules, abused courthouse personnel, made inappropriate posts on social media, and repeatedly failed to do her job.
Peterson once pressed a panic button when a deputy was late escorting her to court. Her actions caused unnecessary chaos in the courthouse that day.
“(Judges) are expected to act in a manner that promotes the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Respondent has shown that she cannot — or will not — do so. And so she must go,” the three person hearing panel wrote.
