The chief magistrate judges of Haralson and Heard counties in West Georgia resigned this week amid state investigations of alleged wrongdoing. Both had just won reelection to four-year terms.
Jason Blackmon resigned as Haralson County’s chief magistrate judge on Wednesday, though he says he could have beaten judicial misconduct charges. On Tuesday, Brenda Jennings resigned as the chief magistrate judge in Heard County.
Gov. Brian Kemp accepted both resignations Wednesday. They were then publicly revealed by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, which had been separately investigating the judges.
Blackmon, 59, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he’d rather return to retirement than stay on the bench under the scrutiny of the JQC. A retired state trooper of 30 years, Blackmon just won reelection to the judgeship he was appointed to in 2020.
Credit: Courtesy Haralson County
Credit: Courtesy Haralson County
He said the transition from public servant to judge, in the county he’s always lived in, was difficult and that being a judge is “not fun work.”
“I failed to make that transition,” Blackmon said Thursday. “It’s hard when you know everyone. You see people at their worst. You don’t choose to be a judge to make people happy. It’s not something that I really, really enjoy doing.”
Details of the allegations against Blackmon aren’t public.
A JQC report on Jennings reveals she was accused of routinely failing to be at court, using staff to transport her to and from personal errands during workdays, arranging for tenants of her personal rental properties to make payments at court through staff and failing to report extra income. She also allegedly used profane language in court, engaged in prohibited communications about cases and failed to be dignified and courteous with a litigant.
Jennings could not immediately be contacted Thursday for comment.
The JQC, which investigates and prosecutes allegations of judicial misconduct, doesn’t publish complaints against judges. Alleged wrongdoing is typically detailed publicly through formal charges when those are filed against a judge.
Both Blackmon and Jennings resigned before formal charges were brought against them. JQC Director Courtney Veal said there aren’t any public filings detailing the allegations against Blackmon.
“I can confirm that his resignation was due to our investigation,” Veal said Thursday.
Blackmon said he was accused of violating the rules that govern Georgia’s judges. He didn’t elaborate, but said he denies any wrongdoing.
“I feel like I could have beat the charges, but it would have been expensive and lengthy,” he said. “It was conduct unbecoming. Nothing of a criminal nature. Basically rule violations.”
About 30,000 people live in Haralson County that extends to the Alabama line west of Atlanta. Blackmon said the county’s magistrate court won’t be without a judge.
There are about 12,000 residents in Heard County, which also reaches the Alabama line west of Newnan. The county also has other magistrate judges.
County magistrate courts handle small civil cases over $15,000 or less and are often where criminal cases begin.
In Georgia, chief magistrate judges are elected to four-year terms in countywide races and can be appointed under local legislation.
Both Blackmon and Jennings won reelection unopposed in November for terms ending in 2028. In resigning, they promised not to seek appointment or election to any judicial position in future.
Blackmon’s resignation and its acceptance by Gov. Brian Kemp is included in the JQC’s limited public report on his case. The agency says in the report that the allegations against Blackmon, if true, would constitute judicial misconduct.
Blackmon said he was appointed in 2020 after his predecessor, Brandon Heath, resigned while under investigation by the JQC. Heath was accused in part of improperly issuing arrest warrants without supporting testimony and inserting himself into an investigation of an acquaintance.
Blackmon said he was told by JQC staff that his resignation would end the agency’s investigation, which he feared would drag on.
“Somebody would have a microscope on me, I felt,” he said.
The JQC has two pending cases involving formal charges against judges.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams is due to stand trial before the agency’s hearing panel in March, accused of favoring a sorority sister in a child custody case and ignoring calls to decide other cases that she’d let languish for more than a year.
Chatham County Probate Judge Thomas Bordeaux is accused of sitting on several cases without a ruling for as many as seven years. Bordeaux, a former state representative who chaired the house judiciary committee, told the AJC he was embarrassed by the case delays, which he blamed in part on limited support staff.
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