James R. Osborne
This is the page for a former Georgia superior court judge. If you are looking for the Indiana superior court judge, see: Jim R. Osborne.
James R. Osborne was a judge for the Paulding Circuit of Georgia.[1] He was appointed to the court by former Governor Sonny Perdue in 2005 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge W.A. Foster, III.[2][3] Osborne retired from the bench on October 1, 2014, though he went on leave prior to that amidst an investigation by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission (See below).[4][5]
Education
Osborne received both his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of Georgia.[2]
Career
- 2005-2014: Judge, Paulding Judicial Circuit, Georgia
- 2002-2005: District attorney, Paulding Judicial Circuit
- 1995-2002: District attorney, Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, Georgia
- 1978-1994: Attorney, Vinson, Osborne, Richardson and Cable [2]
Elections
2010
Osborne was re-elected to the Paulding Judicial Circuit after running unopposed.[6][3]
- Main article: Georgia judicial elections, 2010
Noteworthy events
Bond issue investigation (2014)
An alleged conflict of interest arose when it was discovered that hundreds of bonds for people appearing before Judge Osborne came from a company called Freedom Bail Bonds. It was revealed that the judge's long-time secretary was married to the owner of that company. Additionally, Judge Osborne's wife, an attorney, signed the company's incorporation documents.
Jess Gabel, a law professor at Georgia State University, said:
| “ | Certainly a judge should never use their office to create any sort of advantage for anyone. It would be really hard for the judge to say, I didn't know that my secretary or her husband owned this company.[5][7] | ” |
The state's Judicial Qualifications Commission started an investigation, but soon after, the judge announced his retirement effective October 1, 2014.[5][8]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Administrative Office of the Courts, "Superior Court Directory," accessed May 4, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Georgia.gov, "Governor Perdue announces judicial appointment," January 7, 2005
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Georgia Secretary of State, "Superior Court Judge Race Results," November 2010
- ↑ AJC.com, "Paulding judge on leaving job to daughter: Other candidates were ‘perfectly free’ to sign up," March 13, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 WSB-TV 2, "Superior court judge on leave after bail controversy," August 20, 2014
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Non-Partisan Candidates on the November 2, 2010 General Election Ballot"
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Georgia Report, "Paulding judge under investigation retires early," August 20, 2014
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