Drug Court participants can breath a sigh of relief now that mean and cruel Judge Amanda F. Williams has quit over numerous allegations. This shows how Drug Courts abuse their power. She was the wicked witch of the Drug Courts.
She drove Lindsey Dills to attempt suicide in jail.
Linddsey Dills was one of her Drug Court victims. An unbelievable story of abuse.
Very Tough Love article goes into great detail about the living hell she created for Lindsey Dills and other Drug Court participants.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/430/very-tough-love
Judge Amanda Williams quitting before hearing on judicial misconduct charges
January 10, 2012 – 7:51am
Amanda F. Williams is accused of judicial misconduct.
By Terry Dickson
BRUNSWICK – Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda F. Williams, who once sentenced a man to two weeks in jail for challenging a drug test, will leave office Jan. 2 just nine days before a deadline to answer numerous charges of judicial misconduct, including tyrannical behavior.
Williams, 64, advised Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal of her intent to resign after 21 years on the bench.
In return for the Judicial Qualifications Commission dropping charges against her, Williams agreed not seek another judicial office or senior judge status.
That prohibition is immediate and permanent, the consent order says.
By virtue of his seniority, Superior Court Judge E.M. Wilkes III will replace Williams as chief judge of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit.
The charges against Williams included that she lied to investigators, a crime under Georgia law.
If Williams had not resigned, the commission would have conducted a hearing on all 14 counts and could have sought her removal from the bench.
Last week, the commission amended its Nov. 9 complaint in which it accused her of tyrannical behavior, especially in running her drug court, the state’s largest.
Williams had imposed indefinite jail terms on drug court defendants, deprived some of contact with their lawyers and jailed one man 14 days for questioning a positive drug test, which the commission said he had the absolute right to do without fear of reprisal.
The commission also accused her of giving favorable treatment to the family members of friends and those of high social standing by admitting them into drug court although they did not qualify.
snip
The commission complaint also accused Williams of nepotism for allowing family members to practice before her. In one case, Williams warned parties they would be subject to contempt should they fail to pay a $1,000 fee to her daughter, Frances Dyal, within 30 days. Dyal was acting as a court-appointed guardian in the case and in others that were before Williams.
Other charges include:
– Ordering that drug court defendant Lindsey Dills be held in solitary confinement with no mail, phones calls and no visitors except her drug counselor. While Dills was in jail, she attempted suicide.
– Ordering drug court defendants held indefinitely without a hearing.
– Sending defendant Lisa Branch to Bridges of Hope, a remote residential drug treatment center between Waycross and Homerville, with orders Branch have contact with no one but her drug counselor for a year. The commission said Williams’ action deprived Branch of her right to see her lawyer.
– Approving court motions prepared by her husband and daughter without the court record showing any notice of a conflict of interest.
What is going on with Georgia Judges? They are dropping like flies!
Rash judges bring disorder to court
Saturday, April 7, 2012
By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CLEVELAND — Lynn Akeley- Alderman barely had enough time to use her new “chief judge” letterhead before she followed her predecessor by stepping down from the bench in disgrace.
Since the beginning of 2010, seven of Georgia’s chief Superior Court judges have stepped down amid ethics investigations or have been reprimanded for improper conduct. The judges are Paschal English, Amanda Williams, David Barrett, Kenneth Nix, Rucker Smith, Ernest “Bucky” Woods and Lynn Akeley-Alderman.
Akeley-Alderman resigned March 30, shortly before the state’s judicial watchdog agency was about to file ethics charges against her. Among the expected complaints was that she met privately with another judge to speak up on behalf of a methamphetamine trafficker who had a case pending before the other judge.
Just 29 days earlier, then-Chief Judge David Barrett retired abruptly after he made national news for pulling out a handgun in his courtroom. He had pretended to offer his pistol to an uncooperative witness, saying if she wanted to kill her lawyer she could use his gun. Barrett was making a rhetorical point, but his method prompted an investigation by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.
You might think the exits, less than a month apart, of Barrett and Akeley-Alderman from the same judicial circuit would be unusual. They’re not.
In a span of just one week in April 2010, the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which includes Fayette County, lost two of its four judges to scandals, including one in which the chief judge was caught having sex with a public defender who had cases before him.
In just four months’ time in 2010, both of the Mountain Judicial Circuit’s judges left the bench in disgrace, including one after he was accused of going to Las Vegas with a woman whose divorce he’d signed.
Georgia has 49 judicial circuits and each has its own chief Superior Court judge. Since the beginning of 2010, six chief judges have stepped down while under investigation for ethical lapses. A seventh was reprimanded for a drunken-driving charge.
Rest of story
http://www.ajc.com/news/rash-judges-bring-disorder-1410200.html
A sad story of a mentally ill alcoholic that was arrested for going to an AA meeting drunk! Poor man ended up beaten to death in his cell.Defendant found guilty of negligent homicide
11:00 PM, Apr. 3, 2012
A verdict handed down after midnight Tuesday morning found Chadwick O. King guilty of negligent homicide, a significantly lesser offense than he originally was charged with.
After a five-day trial and a 12-hour final day of testimony and closing arguments, the jury spent three hours deliberating the murder trial for the 2009 beating death of an Opelousas City Jail inmate.
snip-
The prosecutors showed graphic pictures of Armstrong, a schizophrenic and alcoholic resident of the Lighthouse Mission, lying on his back in a pool of blood with a smashed faced, genitals and side. Armstrong was carried into the cell, extremely intoxicated after being arrested when he tried to drunkenly enter an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20120404/NEWS01/204040313/Defendant-found-guilty-negligent-homicide?odyssey=nav%7Chead
I was in that drug court on a mariuana charge i was illegally pulled over and searched my car ,amanda williams put a 20k bail on me for my first offense.
jackie robinson is the most corrupt distirct attorney in eastern united states
my arrest video was edited by the sheriffs office and she had no case but she continued to threaten me with 2 years in jail.
they abused me in that camden jail
i got a stomach flu and they would not send me a doctor
i was throwing up all over and slept in my own mess
my attorney had to call sheriff bill smith several times to advice him i was being abused.
my case was dismissed after 2 years and i should of sued that dirt bag district attorney and the sheriff
I forgot to add in the $5000 I paid in full for attorney fees.
My name is Christine. I am a participant of Judge Michael Haley’s Sobriety Court. (86th District Court in Traverse City, MI). I am less than 90 days from Graduating the program and on March 5, 2012 I had a urine test with “trace amounts of THC”. On March 2nd and February 28th I had Drug Screens that did not test positive for anything. I am ordered by the court to test four random times each month. I have taken an excess of 250 tests in the past four years. Early on I had 2 tests that were dilute which I was punished for because the court considers it a failed test. Later testing history and routine doctor visits that entailed any blood work also showed a pattern of a lower than normal creatine levels as normal for my body. And on June 6th, 2010 I tested positive for THC and I admitted to to the courts that I had relapsed. Since that time I had one relapse on alcohol on August 24, 2010; and for that I was sent to live a detention rehab home for 60 days after serving 6 days in jail. I have been sober and clean since August 26, 2010. I am very grateful for the progress and growth I have had and will continue to have from my participation in this program.
On December 7th 2011 I went to ATS (Addiction Treatment Services) to take my urine test. Upon entering the restroom with the test monitor I saw that there was bloody urine on the toilet seat. I brought it to the monitor’s attention and she simply shrugged her shoulders. So I proceeded to wipe it off and proceed with the test for fear of causing a scene would land me in jail. This is a biohazard and there are specific clean up procedures and chemicals that have to be used for clean up. ATS only cleans their restrooms twice a day. The first time is after morning testing (5:30-10am) is closed. The second cleaning is after evening testing (6-10pm) is closed. At different times this past two years ATS was testing the entire district & felony courts for Grand Traverse & Leelanau Co.’s and anyone testing for other state agencies, private employers and individuals testing privately. A lot of people using two toilets; one for females and one for males.
I was so angry about this that I contacted the Grand Traverse County Health Department. The gentleman had to make some calls to find out which person(s) were I charge of this type of complaint. He called me back an hour later with the name and address for the Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs Bureau of Health Professions Substance Abuse Licensing. I mailed my complaint to them on December 28, 2012. I have as of today not received any response. I followed the letter with several phone calls to the contact that I was given, Sue Jones. Not one response to any of the voice mails that I left. Finally at my wits end I called the Northern Michigan Substance Assistance Services (NMSAS). The gentleman that I spoke to mailed me a complaint form and told me complete it and include any additional letters, etc and mail it back to them. I had done this in hopes of not casting any waves. The issue I have is that if there are no sanitation standards and rules in place at the collection site what is happening back in the lab?
I will fight these charges because I am innocent. I have the complete support of my husband, daughter, my sponsor, friends, co-worker and boss. I have completed 36 months of counseling both groups and individual. I have never missed a PBT, Drug test, appointment with my probation officer, the court or anything court ordered and there have been many things in the past four years. I have paid $10,137.00 in court fines since 2008. I paid the last $ in October 2011. I still owe money to the state of Michigan for fines that must be paid before I have the hearing to petition for review to get a restricted drivers license. These fines total $6125 in addition to the $10k I have already paid. Which leaves last but not least ATS to whom I paid more than $4500 in testing and related fees. Since October the courts have continued to monitor me after all of my requirements to date had been met and all fines were paid. ATS on the other hand would receive an additional $400-$450 revenue from me.
I don’t disagree that these things were not just. I am grateful for every obstacle financial, emotional, physical and lessons that I have had along this journey if this is what it takes for me to live the rest of my life even better then the last 18 almost 19 months have been then it was worth it. I had the opportunity to teach my daughter a lot of things that educated her to the downside of drugs and alcohol. The reality of the fact that drugs and alcohol only have three outcomes; Legal Consequences, Death or Recovery. My husband and daughter were so much a part of this journey that it makes it that much more disappointing and who I kidding devastating that all this could very well land me in jail for up to one year. But most of all ill be kicked out and will not graduate. Somewhere along that way it became very important to me to graduate not only for my family but most of all for me too.
SOS Any help advice feedback would be appreciated.
Disgrace in Drug Court
By Bill Rankin and Carrie Teegardin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One Georgia drug court attracted widespread national attention over the past year.
Chris Viola, The Florida Times-Union Judge Amanda Williams resigned amid allegations of abusive behavior toward defendants.
In January, Amanda Williams, the chief judge in Brunswick who presided over Georgia’s largest drug court, resigned in disgrace amid charges that she behaved in a tyrannical manner and locked up some drug court defendants indefinitely, with orders they have no access to their family or lawyer.
One woman given an open-ended sentence by Williams in 2008 attempted suicide after two months in jail. The woman had previously been flagged for having suicidal tendencies.
Judicial Qualifications Commission charges also accused Williams of using “rude, abusive and insulting language” to some of her drug court defendants.
University of Pennsylvania senior scientist Douglas Marlowe, a national expert on drug courts, said it is critical that accountability courts operate according to standards.
“I’m here to tell you — do it right — and you will save a lot of money and increase public safety,” he said. “The research is unambiguous about this.”
The drug court model is not about breaking someone down, Marlowe added. “The goal is to say look, ‘You have this illness. You may or may not be responsible for the illness, but you are responsible for your recovery. You are responsible for your behavior.’ Nobody should be yelling in your face in a Drug Court.
http://www.ajc.com/news/disgrace-in-drug-court-1371268.html
This is fantastic news. Thank NPR show This American Life for doing a great story on her and exposing her for the wacko she is.
I am so happy to hear this. So there is justice. 🙂
DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK AMANDA WILLIAMS IS THE TRUE DISEASE OF THAT COURT
THAT DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACKIE ROBINSON IS PURLEY CORRUPT AS WELL AS THE SHERIFF AND ENTIRE COURT SYSTEM
THE FEDS NOT GBI
SHOULD GO IN THERE AND SHUT THE COUNTY DOWN AND DO A FULL INVESTIGATION ON THE CORRUPTION
THE SHERIFFS ARE THE MOST EVIL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER I EVER SEEN
THEY LIE
IF ANYTHING JUDGE AMANDA WILLIAMS WAS MORE HONEST THAN THE COPS WERE
YES SHE WAS CRAZY
BUT SHE TOOK NO CRAP FROM ANY OF THE SHERIFF OFFICE
IF THEY PULLED ANY CRAP SHE WOULD YELL AT THEM
I SEEN IT IN COURT 10 TIMES