State prosecutors have appealed a Cobb County judge's decision to throw out the remaining charges against former Cobb EMC chief Dwight Brown, who was accused of swindling away millions of dollars from the Marietta utility.
Chuck Spahos, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, filed the appeal Nov. 28.
The appeal also asks that the case come back to the Cobb County Superior Court instead of go to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Spahos confirmed in October that Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy was planning on dropping the charges against Brown.
Spahos' agency is handling the case because Flournoy disqualified Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds after Brown’s defense argued he do so. The disqualification was based on communication Reynolds had with an ex-EMC board member and with attorneys in the case years before he was elected DA in 2012.
Brown's original 35 charges of theft, racketeering, witness tampering and more — which he pleaded not guilty to — were eventually pared down to seven.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigated the Marietta-based electric utility cooperative in 2007 and how it ran a for-profit subsidiary, Cobb Energy.
That investigation resulted in a pair of lawsuits on behalf of utility members, a $98 million legal settlement and Brown's indictment on racketeering and other financial offenses.
Brown's legal defense said his indictment was flawed because the foreman and four grand jurors were Cobb EMC members.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, who is Brown's attorney, called that a "breach of fundamental fairness" in February 2014.
About the Author
