A state panel that oversees judges has recommended that Twiggs County Probate Judge Kenneth Fowler be removed from the bench.
Fowler’s been under investigation since 2008. The state panel says he found people guilty without letting them testify, allowed non-Spanish speaking people to serve as interpreters for defendants, and took money in lieu of community service and funneled it into a bank account he controlled. He also spoke rudely in court.
Mercer Law professor David Oedel says it was a long list of complaints.
“It was overall a damning opinion. Although no particular single instance was overwhelming, the entire group of complaints that the Judicial Qualifications Commission found was overwhelming itself.”
The matter now goes to the State Supreme Court where judges will make the final ruling. Until then Fowler will remain on the bench in Twiggs County. Fowler like hundreds of other probate and magistrate judges in Georgia is elected but not a lawyer.

Tags: Twiggs County, Judge Kenneth Fowler, Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, Georgia State Supreme Court