Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney has stepped down as the presiding member of the panel that hears complaints of judicial misconduct against Georgia judges.
McBurney has served on the hearing panel of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission since 2017, immediately after the agency was restructured in a legislative amendment. He was appointed to the unpaid position by the Georgia Supreme Court, which announced his departure Tuesday.
“Judge McBurney has exemplified exceptional leadership by developing the hearing panel’s practices and operations based on an entirely new JQC model created in 2016,” Chief Justice Michael Boggs said. “Under his leadership, the hearing panel succeeded in implementing a new adjudication system for judicial discipline matters where every matter before the panel presented uncharted and new challenges.”
McBurney will continue to serve on the Fulton County Superior Court, where his current term ends Dec. 31, 2026. His voluntary role with the JQC will be filled by Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Brian Rickman.
McBurney said that serving on the JQC hearing panel has been a highlight of his tenure as a judge. He said Rickman is an excellent choice to guide and improve the panel’s work.
“I deeply appreciate the opportunity the Supreme Court afforded me,” McBurney said. “I also appreciate the need to bring in new leadership so that the hearing panel can evolve as an institution.”
The JQC investigates complaints of judicial misconduct against Georgia’s approximately 1,600 judges. It also advises judges on the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct.
There are three members of the hearing panel, which makes recommendations to the state Supreme Court about whether and how judges should be disciplined for code violations. The panel must include a judge, an attorney and a citizen who is neither.
JQC Director Courtney Veal said the hearing panel’s presiding officer position is “essentially a second judge job, but without pay.” She said working alongside McBurney has been one of the greatest honors of her career.
“We’re going to miss him a great deal,” she said.
McBurney and the other hearing panel members, Dax Lopez and Richard Hyde, recommended in late March that former Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson should be removed from the bench in response to 30 ethics charges. The state Supreme Court agreed, ousting Peterson in late June, several days after she was arrested outside a Buckhead nightclub.
The hearing panel also recommended the removal of former Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Christian Coomer, who was accused of misusing campaign funds and taking advantage of a wealthy elderly client while an attorney and state lawmaker. Coomer was expelled by the state Supreme Court in August 2023.
As a judge, McBurney has presided over some of the state’s largest cases, including the criminal prosecution of former attorney Claud “Tex” McIver in the 2016 shooting death of his wife, Diane McIver. McIver, 81, pleaded guilty in January to a charge of involuntary manslaughter, scuttling a planned retrial. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
McBurney also presided over the special grand jury probe of former President Donald Trump and his allies before they were indicted in August 2023, accused of unlawfully meddling in Georgia’s 2020 elections. The ongoing challenge to Georgia’s abortion law is currently on McBurney’s docket.
Rickman has served on the state Court of Appeals bench since January 2016. He was the chief judge from 2021 to 2023. Before becoming a judge, Rickman was the district attorney in Georgia’s Mountain Judicial Circuit, serving Habersham, Rabun and Stephens counties. During that time, he also prosecuted JQC matters.
“We are thankful for Judge Rickman’s commitment to take on this role, and we are confident that his leadership will continue the good work of the panel,” Boggs said.
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