Judge Had Inactive License; Error Disclosed After Reprimand for Being Rude, Using Profanity
A Georgia judge whose father is famed trial lawyer Bobby Lee Cook has taken a drubbing in the media, first for profane tirades against police and prosecutors, and now for failing to maintain an active law license.
Reports earlier this month focused on the public reprimand against the judge, Kristina Cook Connelly Graham, imposed because she attacked the credibility of state police and belittled special prosecutors. The judge had “used both profanity and loud accusatory language” when speaking to the police while in her chambers, the reprimand (PDF) says, and talked to prosecutors in a manner that was “overbearing, rude and intolerant.” Law.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Chattanoogan.com were among the news organizations that covered the story.
The complaint filed by the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had alleged Graham was angry because she believed agents investigating drug cases had asked an informant about her. In one case, the complaint alleged, she told an agent to “sit your sorry ass down.” The Chattanoogan.com reported on another conversation caught on tape in which Graham said, “I want you to know what you have done and what you are doing, and you are a [expletive] lying son of a [expletive].”
Now comes news that Graham had maintained an inactive law license for the last five years. The Rome News-Tribune article is based on a report in the Fulton County Daily Report. Graham’s lawyer, William Cunningham, attributed the problem to an administrative error and said the judge paid $801 to make up for the underpayment.
