John Coomer, a Georgia Court of Appeals judge, is facing disciplinary action after a hearing panel found that he had violated several attorney ethics rules and campaign finance laws. The panel recommended his removal from office.
Coomer was appointed to the court in September 2018 and was sworn in the next month. He was reelected in 2020 to a term that ends in 2026.
The hearing panel found that Coomer had violated several ethics rules, including using his position for personal gain and misusing funds entrusted to him. It was alleged that he convinced a client to loan his assets and judgment-proof limited liability company hundreds of thousands of dollars on unreasonable terms, drafted and executed ethically impermissible and indefensible estate documents, and used thousands of dollars held in the public trust to fly his entire family over 4,000 miles away to the beaches of Hawaii for a private vacation at a time when he had already been appointed to be a judge.
The panel noted that character evidence from Coomer’s peers suggested that he was among the top 1% of officers they had met. Still, it noted that Coomer’s “long-term pattern of violating attorney ethics rules and campaign finance laws to his financial benefit, his lack of remorse, and his payment of restitution only after his wrongdoing came to light outweigh mitigating factors and demand removal from office.”
Despite the panel finding Coomer guilty of 29 counts, there were seven counts where he was found not guilty, including a charge that he had committed fraud, deceit, dishonesty, or misrepresentation.
In response to the findings against him and the recommendation for removal from office, Coomer’s lawyer, Mark Lefkow, stated that the panel’s finding of innocence for Coomer on the count of fraud was correct, based on witness testimony, and that their recommendation misconstrued the evidence in a manner not supported by the record.
Lefkow also noted that the Georgia Supreme Court is the only body that can remove a judge from office. He believed they would look carefully at the record and reach a different conclusion.
Coomer’s case will now go before the Georgia Supreme Court, where he is hoping for a favorable outcome to remain in office. The outcome of the case could significantly impact the judiciary in Georgia, as Coomer’s removal would be only the second such removal from office in the state’s history. The decision will therefore set an important precedent for judges and attorneys alike.
Regardless of the outcome, it is clear that Coomer still has many supporters who are confident in his innocence and hopeful that the Georgia Supreme Court will reach a favorable decision. That decision could be the deciding factor in whether Coomer remains a judge for the state of Georgia. Time will tell, but this case has significant implications for all involved.
REFERENCES:
Appeals judge should be removed for using client and campaign account as a ‘personal ATM,’ ethics panel says