Lawyers divided on Judge Jung

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jim McGuire

The Fulton County Bar Association came to no decision Monday on whether to try to file a legal brief in support of the final appeal of Fulton County Family Court Judge David F. Jung, who is facing removal from the bench.

Debate on the issue is expected to resume next week.

Jung is asking the state Court of Appeals to review a February decision by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct removing him from the bench. The commission found that Jung violated the rights of five people in 2005, ordering them sent to jail either when they were not present or had no lawyer to represent them or both.

Bar Association President Russell P. Martin declined comment on the outcome of a special meeting of the group Monday afternoon at the Fulton County Courthouse.

The meeting was held to decide whether to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of Jung’s appeal. Members said Monday that a decision was not reached, but discussion will resume at a second special meeting on May 19.

A proposed brief composed by Mayfield attorney Anthony Casale compares the commission’s decision to remove Jung to other commission rulings where lesser penalties were imposed. It cites cases in 2005 in which one judge was censured for jailing an acquitted individual by altering a commitment order to reflect a new charge and a second was censured for fabricating a conviction to hold a litigant so Immigration and Naturalization Service agents could arrest and deport the individual.

The brief discusses Jung’s 40-year career, the numbers of cases he handled as a private attorney and those he presided over since his election as judge in 1989. It also reviews his record of community service on the boards of such organizations as the Boy Scouts of America, the YMCA and the Lexington Center.