Something very important happened last week. It happened quietly. You may not have even noticed it. Nobody signed up to challenge our Superior Court Judges in the November election.
You would have to be familiar with the judicial system here and elsewhere to fully appreciate how blessed we are. Our judges are men of excellent character. Not every circuit can support that claim. Our four judges have served within the Griffin Judicial Circuit in one capacity or another for a combined 130+ years. Other circuits would love to have judges with that kind of dedicated service as proof of their commitment to the community. But, what makes our judges stand out from the pack is their willingness to punish criminals.
Jarrod Michael Gooden found that out the hard way. On August 25, 2006 he abducted his girlfriend and brought her to Fayetteville. He shot her in the face in front of a Fayetteville Police officer and then opened fire on the officer. That was a bad decision. When a Fayette County jury convicted Gooden, our judge sentenced him to 40 years.
On July 30, 2004 Efrain Oliveres and Roberto Camacho came to Fayette County with over 4 kilograms of cocaine. The Drug Task Force caught them. We convicted. On March 22, 2005, one of our judges sentenced each of them to 40 years and a million dollar fine.
Between December 2 and 3 of 2005 Arnold Wesley went to the home of a 67 year old man in Fayette County. The man offered Wesley a drink from the refrigerator. Wesley responded by hitting the man in the head with a gun, striking his back with a crowbar, kidnapping him and stealing his car. He shouldn’t have done that here. One of our judges sentenced him to 2 consecutive life sentences plus 10 years.
On June 14, 2005, Darrell Brown thought it would be a good idea to come to the movie theater in Fayetteville and use his gun to rob and kidnap three ladies. Our judge’s response? Five consecutive life without possibility of parole sentences plus 15 years.
The Griffin Judicial Circuit is fortunate to have Superior Court Judges Paschal English, Johnnie Caldwell, Chris Edwards and Tommy Hankinson returning for another term.
