Municipal Court Judge Haywood Turner admitted in a police report released Friday that he brandished a pistol while driving in an August incident, though he never pointed it at the driver who accused him of just that.
"Judge Turner stated he never pointed the pistol at the subject and in fact never removed it from the holster but simply held the gun up," the Columbus Police Department report states.
Turner, who pleaded guilty to reckless driving Wednesday, was initially charged with two counts of pointing a gun. The charges were dropped and the judge was formally accused in February of reckless driving.
"A prosecutor's responsibility is to consider the totality of the facts of a case and proceed in an appropriate manner," Troup County Solicitor General Nina Markette Baker wrote in a letter to the Ledger-Enquirer. "I determined the best way to proceed was to file a charge of reckless driving."
Baker, who was assigned the case when Muscogee County Solicitor General Ben Richardson recused himself, said Turner's sentence of 12 months probation, $1,000 fine, 40 hours of community service and attendance at an anger management program is "a serious punishment for a first misdemeanor conviction."
The charge stems from an incident at the intersection of J.R. Allen Parkway and Second Avenue. Army Sgt. Frederick Lumzy was attempting to change lanes when a nearby Mercedes sped up and blocked his vehicle. Lumzy told police he tried to get over, couldn't, and when he looked at the driver of the Mercedes, he was pointing a pistol at him.
Lumzy followed the Mercedes on the J.R. Allen Parkway to Bradley Park Drive, calling 911 on his cell phone to request police help. He lost the Mercedes when it made a left turn from a non-turning lane, he told police. Lumzy later identified Turner as the driver, picking him from a six-person photo array displayed by detectives. Turner was subsequently arrested on a warrant accusing him of pointing a gun at another.
The report also says that a passenger in Lumzy's car "could not see" a gun. Turner's lawyer, J. Mark Shelnutt, said the dismissed pistol charge therefore would have boiled down to a "swearing match" between Turner and the victim, Lumzy.
Turner's attorney at the plea session, Peter Hoffman, said Wednesday it was in his client's best interest to plead guilty to the reckless driving offense. In the police report, Turner states Lumzy yelled at him, and that he raised his gun because he thought Lumzy might come after him.
Shelnutt said Baker was a tough negotiator on the plea agreement. While he believes Turner would have prevailed at trial, he didn't go to court because of the negative publicity a gun-pointing charge would have generated.
"She (Baker) came after him hard," Shelnutt said. "If (Turner) had been Joe Blow, this case would never have been presented. She didn't cut him a break because he was a judge, I'll tell you that."
Russell Gabriel, director of the criminal defense clinic at The University of Georgia, isn't so sure. He said he would like the Judicial Qualifications Commission to examine the offense.
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