Metro Atlanta judge favored her sorority sister and mishandled cases, court watchdog agency says

“Judge Williams remains committed to upholding the highest standards of judicial conduct and ensuring that all proceedings are conducted with fairness and integrity to all persons who appear before her,” Banks told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The charges stem from three separate complaints filed against Williams in response to his handling of eight different cases.

The first complaint alleges that Williams was assigned a child custody case filed in September 2021 against an attorney who was in the same sorority as Williams and who was involved in unrelated cases on the judge’s list. When the mother’s attorney asked if the case could be assigned to another judge, Williams directly called the mother on her personal cell phone to discuss the case, the JQC alleges.

Williams did not tell the father who filed the case that she had discussed it directly with the mother, nor that she had canceled an initial hearing to avoid the mother’s colleagues and clients learning about the matter. .

At a hearing in December 2021, the father’s attorney raised concerns about Williams’ handling of the case. The following month, the mother’s attorney asked Williams to recuse himself. In February 2022, the father’s lawyer also requested Williams’ recusal.

A few days later, Williams discussed the matter with an attorney who was not involved, the JQC alleged. Williams told the attorney she did not want to recuse herself because it could impact her in future elections, and complained that the mother had “made it personal,” according to the charges.

The mother was informed of the conversation by the attorney, who said Williams had threatened to grant custody to the father, according to the charges.

“Judge Williams allowed a relationship to influence her judicial conduct and judgment,” the JQC said. “Judge Williams failed to discharge her judicial duties competently and without bias or prejudice.”

Three days after Williams was informed by the JQC that a complaint had been filed against her, she denied the mother’s request for recusal in a seven-page order, in which she denied discussing the matter directly with the mother. Minutes later, Williams voluntarily recused herself from the case, saying she was concerned about the mother’s “misrepresentations” about it, according to the charges.

“Judge Williams failed to act in a manner that promoted public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” the JQC said.

Other complaints filed against Williams in 2023 allege that she forced litigants in seven national cases to wait between 14 and 30 months for a decision, despite being repeatedly asked to move the cases forward. In two child support cases, Williams issued final orders two and a half years after the final hearings, the JQC said.

Williams made her decision only after being notified that her late handling of records had resulted in complaints to the JQC, according to the charges.

“Judge Williams’ conduct as described above amounts to intentional misconduct in the performance of his duties; willful and persistent failure to perform official duties; and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the judicial function into disrepute,” the JQC said.