Georgia’s high court suspends Crawford County judge for grabbing defendant

Caption

Crawford County Courthouse

Credit: Wikimedia

The Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday ordered that Crawford County’s chief magistrate be suspended for one month without pay for his role in a physical altercation with a handcuffed, shackled defendant who the judge grabbed after the defendant cussed the judge in court in December 2020.

Judge Cary F. Hays III, 79, in office since 2017, also faces a public reprimand, according to Tuesday’s decision by the high court, which ruled unanimously in favor of the disciplinary measures.

“The proposed sanction is one of the most significant we have ever imposed, short of removal from office,” the court noted in its decision, which went on to deem the infraction “particularly serious” but also mentioned that “the incident — grave as it was — was momentary, and no actual injury was inflicted.”

The incident in question happened at a first-appearance hearing in Crawford magistrate court where on Dec. 18, 2020, a recently arrested defendant, whose name was not mentioned in the ruling, began cussing at Hays because of the bond the judge had set.

Hays has admitted to his role in the ensuing clash, which the high court’s decision described thusly:

“The defendant began cursing at the judge in response to the judge’s bond determination. The defendant continued to curse at Judge Hays while being led out of the hearing. Judge Hays verbally engaged with the defendant and then followed him into a hallway, at which time Judge Hays exchanged a few more words with the defendant before grabbing him and pushing him against the wall. The defendant (at the time) was handcuffed and his feet shackled.”

Hays told The Telegraph by phone Tuesday morning that he had just read over the high court’s six-page decision and said “I agree with everything they said in there.”

“I did wrong,” he added, “and I’m gonna be punished for it.”

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Telegraph.