Georgia Supreme Court removes judge from bench after she allegedly assaulted police officer outside nightclub

The Supreme Court of Georgia has ordered a judge be removed and banned from holding any judicial post in the state for seven years after the county judge was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting a police officer at a nightclub.

However, it wasn’t her recent arrest that led to her removal from the bar. Douglas County Probate Court Judge Christina Peterson, who was elected and sworn into office in December 2020, was previously looking at 50 counts of alleged misconduct. 20 were dismissed and a hearing panel investigated the other 30.

The court said in a ruling issued Tuesday morning, “Douglas County Probate Court Judge Christina Peterson has been charged with a number of violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct (CJC), including a number of violations that the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) says exhibited a pattern of judicial misconduct while in office. The JQC Hearing Panel found that Judge Peterson violated multiple rules in the CJC and that those violations warrant her removal from the bench. We agree that removal is warranted here.

"Accordingly, it is ordered that Judge Christina Peterson of the Douglas County Probate Court be removed from office, effective upon the date of this opinion. As a result, Judge Peterson ‘shall not be eligible to be elected or appointed to any judicial office in this state until seven years have elapsed’ from the date of this opinion.”

In a March report, a panel found "clear and convincing evidence" against Peterson in 28 of 30 counts of code of conduct violations and concluded that she should be removed from the bench.

According to Atlanta News First, Peterson is also facing two charges, simple battery against a police officer and felony willful obstruction of law enforcement by use of threats of violence after the highly publicized caught-on-bodycam-footage arrest at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge off Peachtree Road following a 911 call.

Peterson’s attorney, Marvin Arrington Jr., said after her arrest that his client had stepped in to help a woman who was allegedly being "viciously attacked" by a man at the restaurant. Alexandria Love, the woman at the center of the incident, said, "She was the only one that helped me." Love said that Peterson didn't mean to hit an officer while attempting to break up the alleged attack.