The Georgia Supreme Court ordered the removal from office of a probate court judge and barred him from ever holding or seeking a future judicial office. 

The judge was found to have regularly advised defendants that they had the burden of proving their innocence. He also had a procedure that permitted criminal defendants to ‘buy out” of community service, deposit the proceeds into an unauthorized bank account and use the money for bus tickets, school trophies and police equipment. He disposed of cases that were beyond his court’s jurisdiction and used “rude, abusive, and insulting language” to defendants and witnesses “even screaming at a defendant to ‘shut up.’ “