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Georgia Supreme Court suspends, reprimands Atlanta city judge for chronic lateness, absences

By WSBTV.com News Staff
By WSBTV.com News Staff

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to impose a 90-day suspension and a public reprimand for an Atlanta city judge who admits she was chronically late for work and chronically absent from her $182,000-a-year job.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Richard Belcher says the disciplinary action is relatively severe. In its order released today, the Supreme Court says the actions against Municipal Court Judge Terrinee Gundy are among the most severe it has ever ordered -- short of removal from the bench.

In the order, the court also says Judge Gundy either outright admits all of the misconduct or admits the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) could have proved it at a public trial.

Channel 2 broke the story of the JQC ethics investigation of Gundy in 2017. The JQC first brought public charges in 2019. It later amended those, dropping some of the more serious charges, including allegations that Judge Gundy intentionally tried to mislead the commission.

After long and secret negotiations about a deal to avoid a public trial, Gundy has admitted to years of misconduct, some of which directly affected how long defendants remained in jail.

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Among the findings about her tardiness:

From Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2015, she arrived at least two hours late for her 8 a.m. court session at least 62 times.

From Jan. 1 to June 1, 2016, the judge arrived at least an hour late for her 8 a.m. court 80 times.

Absences were also a key part of the investigation.

Judge Gundy admits she was absent 40 days in 2016, 63 days in 2017 and 19 days in the first 6 1/2 months of 2018.

She also admits the JQC could have proved at a trial that in March 2017 she didn’t grant hearings for at least six jailed defendants, despite protests by prosecutors and defense lawyers. The result was that those defendants spent several days in jail. The Supreme Court’s order says Judge Gundy was in a hurry to finish her calendar of cases that day.

Former public defender Rosalie Joy told Channel 2 in 2017 that Judge Gundy was part of what Joy called “assembly line justice” that could intimidate her public defenders. “I cultivated a staff or lawyers who were no longer afraid to stand up for what is right in the courtroom, despite the fact that they could fear the loss of their job,” she told Belcher.

The Supreme Court says “much of the misconduct at issue has gone unexplained by Judge Gundy” but concludes the judge and the people of Atlanta deserve a resolution to a case that has dragged on for years. Channel 2 reported last week that the court apparently rejected an earlier effort at a negotiated settlement that was sent to the court in March of this year. Details of that were not released.

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JQC Director Chuck Boring told Channel 2, “We’re very satisfied in having finality to this case.”

Boring says Gundy will serve her 90-day suspension from Municipal Court before she is given the public reprimand. Boring says that will be administered by a superior court judge who has not yet been named by the Supreme Court.

Her lawyer, Gabe Banks, emailed: “Judge Gundy is respectful of the Supreme Court’s decision. As a judge who has presided over cases for nearly a decade, she recognizes that reasonable minds can disagree about the appropriate disposition of a case. The overwhelming number of charges for which she was initially investigated were proven to be unfounded…(S)he looks forward to continuing her work as a judge and serving the citizens of the City of Atlanta.”

It is not clear when her 90-day suspension will begin.

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