News About the Superior Court of Fulton County

EPIC Celebrates Local Public Interest Attorneys


01/26/10

Three Atlanta attorneys whose careers exemplify a commitment to public service will be honored by the Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC) at its 14th annual Inspiration Awards Ceremony and Reception at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, in Emory Law’s Tull Auditorium.

Terry Walsh 70L, retired partner at Alston & Bird; The Hon. Doris L. Downs, chief judge of the Fulton County Superior Court; and Rita A. Sheffey, partner at Hunton & Williams, are this year’s honorees.

Walsh, a 1970 graduate of Emory Law, is receiving the Lifetime Commitment to Public Service Award. He spent nearly 40 years practicing in Alston & Bird’s litigation and trial practice groups and was the firm’s first community liaison partner. He has served as president of the Atlanta Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia’s Young Lawyers Division and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. A member of the State Bar of Georgia Board of Governors, Walsh chaired its Committee on Children and the Courts. He also served on the Supreme Court of Georgia’s Committee on Civil Justice.

Walsh has led numerous community service programs in Atlanta. He is co-founder and chair of the Truancy Intervention Project, director of the Family Connection Partnership and Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and was founding director of the Georgia Justice Project. He also is a founding advisory board member of EPIC and facilitated the inception of the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network. Additionally, Walsh has received many awards for his pro bono work, including the 2008 Fulton County Daily Report Pro Bono Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1995 Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Community Service Award and several public service awards from the Atlanta Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia and the American Bar Association.

Judge Downs is receiving the Outstanding Leadership in the Public Interest Award. Appointed as judge of the Fulton County Superior Court by Gov. Zell Miller in 1996, Downs presides over civil, domestic and felony criminal cases and trials. She was elected chief judge in 2004.

Downs oversees the Fulton County Drug Court Program, which provides drug-addicted criminal defendants with a highly structured treatment program. Under her leadership, the program has doubled in capacity, serving nearly 400 clients. She also launched the county’s Mental Health Court, which helps to stabilize, treat and find safe placement for mentally ill defendants in the criminal justice system. Downs is a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia and serves on the executive committee of the Council of Superior Court Judges. Prior to her role on the bench, Downs served as an assistant district attorney in Fulton County for 14 years.

Sheffey is receiving the Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award. A partner in Hunton & Williams’ litigation and intellectual property practice, Sheffey directs the firm’s Southside Legal Center. She is an active member of the Supreme Court of Georgia’s Committee on Civil Justice and is a past president of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation Inc. Sheffey also has been involved in numerous roles for the Atlanta Bar Association including serving on its executive committee and board of directors and chairing the Celebrating Service and Pro Bono committees. She currently serves as the organization’s secretary.

Sheffey is president and chair of Atlanta Victim Assistance Inc. and on the board of trustees of Boys Speak Out Inc. She received the Outstanding Woman in the Profession Achievement Award by the Atlanta Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia’s H. Sol Clark Pro Bono Award.

EPIC, a student-run organization promoting public interest law at Emory, supports students pursuing public interest legal jobs and acknowledges the professional responsibility of lawyers and law students to make legal services more accessible.

The annual Inspiration Awards is EPIC’s primary fundraiser. In 2009, EPIC raised more than $110,000, providing 25 summer grants for students volunteering in public sector jobs. Grant recipients worked at a variety of local and national and international organizations, including the Georgia Innocence Project in Atlanta, the Legal Aid Society’s Homeless Rights Project in New York and the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington, D.C.

Donations to EPIC are accepted at various levels with a minimum $35 donation to attend the Inspiration Awards. For more information about contributing to EPIC or attending this year’s event, contact Sue McAvoy at 404.727.5503 or smcavoy(at)law.emory.edu.

Court upholds life sentence in Buckhead slaying

Associated Press

9:56 a.m. Monday, January 25, 2010

Georgia's highest court has upheld a murder conviction and life prison sentence for a man accused of killing another man he says made unwanted homosexual advances.

In an opinion published Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld Joseph Hall Jr.' sentence for the 2002 slaying of David Cook.

Hall was an 18-year-old college student when prosecutors say he and his co-defendant, Edward McCloud, took a bus from Montgomery, Ala. to Atlanta.

Prosecutors say they met Cook, a travel agent, in an area frequented by Atlanta's gay community and he offered to take them to his Buckhead condo to "party" and have sex.

At trial, Hall said he was high on cocaine when he stabbed Cook more than 20 times while in a trance triggered by childhood memories of seeing his father stab his mother to death.



$200,000 Awarded to Atlanta Pedestrian

A man struck by a MARTA bus as he crossed Commerce Street near the Decatur MARTA station was awarded $200,000 by a Fulton County jury.

The man was crossing between the DeKalb County Courthouse parking deck and the Manuel Maloof Administration Building on the morning of July 23, 2007, when a Mart bus left the MARTA station turnaround on Swanton Way and turned into Commerce, striking the man.

The complaint stated that the pedestrian was knocked down, lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital. He suffered a very minor head injury, as well as some soft-tissue injuries to his head and back. Medical expenses added to $13,000 and he suffered about $10,000 in lost wages.

After a two-and-a-half-day trial before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry M. Newkirk, the jury took about three hours to award $200,000 to the plaintiff.


Current Events

Bad Ol' Boys Club Desserts & Discussion Event

January 28th, 2010

A Future. Not A Past. is excited to annnounce our first literary event to raise awareness about the prostitution of children. Barbara Rose, a mystery novelist, has written a book, The Bad Ol' Boys Club, in which the plot revolves around this issue. If you have a book club, or know of any groups that would like to help us distribute this FREE book, please email info@AFutureNotaPast.org for more information and details. In order to receive these books, we ask that you submit email address for all those who receive the book so that we can send out more info closer the the date. This will be coupled with a "Dessert and Discussion" event to be held 7pm on January 28, 2010 at the Fulton County Juvenile Court.

website: http://sgadvocacy.org/lobby/SGLobbyDay

Location:

395 Pryor Street SW, Rooms 1132/33, Atlanta, GA 30312


Mandatory DNA Testing For Felonies Pushed in Georgia

By Susanna Capelouto

Mon., January 25, 2010 1:12pm (EST)

Atlanta — A group of parents whose daughters were killed in violent crimes is pushing for mandatory DNA sampling for those arrested on felony charges in Georgia. They say it would solve murders and keep people save.

21 states already have laws requiring DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony. Joan Berry is with the Surviving Parents Coalition. Her Daughter Johnia was killed while a student at the University of Tennessee.

3 years ago Berry pushed the law in that state.

"The Johnia Berry Act was passed in Tennessee and that same year an arrest was made due to a DNA match, so Jonia's murderer was finally found," she says.

In Georgia, the law would have the same name in Georgia. It is sponsored by State Representative Rob Teihet, a democrat who is also running for Attonrey General. Teilhet says he has bi partisan support.

Teilhet says he knows that the state budget is lean and the GBI already has trouble keeping up with current DNA tests.

"There is a backlog now," he says. " One of the things we as a state have to do is simply decide that, consistent with our values, this is a priority."

Teilhet is also a candidate for Attoney General. At a news conference he presented Data showing that almost 130 crimes could have been prevented in 3 states if DNA had been collected.

Teilhet says he will introduce the legislation later this week and he says he's aware that privacy advocates may take issue with mandatory testing. He says law enforcement likes it as an additional crime fighting tool


Home / News / Local News / San Diego County

REGION: San Diego Superior Court adds Wi-Fi for jurors

By SARAH GORDON - sgordon@nctimes.com
Posted: January 27, 2010 5:50 pm

Jurors waiting to be called into a courtroom can now surf the Internet on laptops or other wireless devices, after all four San Diego Superior Court jury lounges activated Wi-Fi this week, a court spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The wireless Internet service can be accessed for free by any juror serving in Vista, San Diego, Chula Vista or El Cajon, Superior Court spokeswoman Karen Dalton said. It will be available in the jury lounge, and people will need a valid juror badge and a court-provided password to access it, Dalton said.

Jurors for years have been requesting wireless Internet access, and the court recently identified a funding source, Dalton said. A one-time hardware and software cost of about $95,000 to establish the service was funded with a state grant, she said.

The court will pay about $1,600 a month to maintain the service, she said.

Posted in Sdcounty on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 5:50 pm



These news articles were compiled by the Superior Court of Fulton County, Office of Public Information as a service to the Fulton Judicial System. The purpose of this service is to keep judges, court staff and other interested parties informed of the latest developments affecting the practice of law, the administration of justice and public perceptions of the judiciary. News stories are selected after the consideration of certain criteria, including if the article contains news about the Superior Court of Fulton County or the judicial system. News stories will not be included if they contain profanity or vulgarity or come from a publication that defines its circulation and audience in terms of a special interest. Exclusively political stories will not be included, except for stories about the announcement of a candidacy for judicial office, major editorial endorsements of candidates for judicial office, or the outcome of judicial elections.


For further information about this news service, contact: Don Plummer, Public Information Officer, Superior Court of Fulton County. Don.plummer@fultoncountyga.gov.



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